Three members of the advisory board for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Poland have resigned after the government appointed a member of the country’s right-wing ruling party to serve on the body, The Associated Press reported Friday.
The Ministry of Culture has appointed former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Board for a term of four years. The group of nine members of Poland meets once a year to advise the director of the museum and is separate from the International Auschwitz Council, which is made up of Holocaust survivors and experts.
Szydlo was encountered in 2017 while appearing to be defending her conservative anti-migrant policies during a memorial service in the former Nazi death camp. She said that “in today’s turbulent times, Auschwitz is a wonderful lesson that shows that everything must be done to protect the safety and lives of its citizens.”
She later denied that her strongly criticized remarks were about refugees.
The politician is a member of the European Parliament for the Law and Justice Party and grew up in the city of Oswiecim, where Auschwitz is located, the AP noted.
Philosopher Stanislaw Krajewski was the first adviser to step down in protest of Szydlo’s appointment. He explained to the outlet that his retirement was in response to the ‘politicization’ of a group, adding that he was uncomfortable with the addition of political figures.
“It’s hard to say what would happen, but it would change the nature of the body a lot,” Krajewski said. “I do not want to be on the same council today with an important ruling politician.”
He pointed to the effort for law and justice to build national pride in the country’s past. The statement noted that the party, which took power in 2015, used museums, state media and other instruments to establish a patriotic vision of Poland highlighting resistance to the German occupation. Some critics say the initiative was historically whitewashed and a distorted version of the past.
“The fear is that it would be another step in the direction of making the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum part of their historical policy as well,” Krajewski said of Syzdlo’s appointment.
Other members also left, including historian Marek Lasota, who also belongs to the ruling party, and Krystyna Oleksy, a former deputy director of the Auschwitz Museum.