3 resign from Auschwitz council after politician appointed

Three members of an advisory council for the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum in Poland have resigned after the government appointed a former prime minister and top member of the country’s rightwing ruling party to serve on the council.

Culture Minister Piotr Glinski, who appointed Beata Szydlo to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Council, said he was astounded by the resignations.

He described them Friday as unjustified moves that threaten to “politicize the discussion around the most important museum of martyrdom in Poland, a place of world heritage.”

The first advisory council member to resign was philosopher Stanislaw Krajewski, who said he took the step Tuesday to protest what he called the “politicization” of the group of Polish experts who to advise the museum’s director.

He was followed by historians Marek Lasota, who also belongs to the ruling party, and Krystyna Oleksy, a former deputy director of the Auschwitz Museum.

Krajewski said that he does not remember a politician ever being named to the council and did not feel comfortable with the step, particularly given the policies of the populist and nationalist Law and Justice Party.

“It’s hard to say what would happen, but it would change the nature of the body very considerably,” Krajewski said.

“I don’t want to be on the same council with a major politician of the ruling party today.”

The culture minister’s statement said it is “not true that there have never been any politically involved people” on the council.