In the last week of April, I travelled to Madrid to view the first travelling exhibition about the history of Auschwitz. Entitled 'Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away', the exhibition is the result of a collaboration between Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, in co-operation with a number of organisations and holders of private collections. Never before has such a large exhibition on the former camp been staged anywhere beyond the Museum itself. But Madrid is just the first stop in a seven-year tour that will see the exhibition held in 14 different cities (seven in Europe, seven in North America), allowing those who might never be able to visit the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau an intimate encounter with this past. Survivor testimonies (both written and filmed), models and over 600 artefacts - many of which have never been publicly displayed before - make up the exhibition.
As soon as I stepped out of Plaza de Castilla Metro station, I had an even better idea of the effort put into this exhibition, as this was the sight that greeted me:
I received a further surprise as I approached the exhibition entrance. A cattle car, of the kind used to deport people to the Nazi camps, stood outside the entrance on a short length of railway track. I have seen the cattle car at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and at a number of Holocaust museums and exhibitions. Something about this symbol of the Holocaust, placed opposite offices and shops in the Spanish capital, however, left me feeling almost uneasy. The 'world' of the Holocaust, as we might call it, is so far beyond the realm of everyday life that seeing this object out on the street was somewhat unnerving.
Once inside, I collected my audio guide and began a literal descent into the exhibition. The narrative is split into four parts: 'The Encounter' (a comment on the symbolism of Auschwitz, and a brief introduction to the subject), 'Before Auschwitz', 'Auschwitz', and 'After Auschwitz'.
In 'Before Auschwitz', the pre-war history of Oświęcim (the Polish name for the town) and the role of the Jewish community within it is well-contextualised, as is the brief overview of Judaism and the history of anti-Semitism. I was also pleased to see a section on the Roma and Sinti, particularly as the murderous campaign against them can sometimes feel overlooked at the Auschwitz Museum itself. The exhibition then explained Germany's defeat in World War I and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, quickly integrating the Nazis' persecution of various groups and the establishment of the first concentration camps into this narrative. Part of the gallery illustrated many Jewish people's desperate attempts to flee Germany and, as a British person, I felt nauseated after reading a note posted through the door of a Jewish man who had escaped to England in the late 1930s. With its rhetoric of the British public being 'taxed to keep scum from Europe whilst [the] English cannot get a house,' I was sadly reminded of similar arguments that are still made here today.
This section also covered the invasion of Poland and the ghettoisation of its Jewish residents, as well as the T4 'euthanasia' programme carried out by the Nazis against mentally and physically disabled Germans. A white doctor's coat hangs in a display case opposite a few possessions of those who were murdered during this operation, whilst nearby photographs of some of the victims attest to the callous nature of the medical professionals who broke their Hippocratic Oath in such a brutal manner.
I spent six and a half hours in 'Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away'. I don't imagine that many others would do the same, as I listened to the whole audio guide, read every caption, watched every film and took many photographs. Even in all that time, however, it is clear that one can only begin to scratch the surface of the history of Auschwitz, and in some ways, the exhibition is certain to raise more questions than it answers.
The exhibition is presented very strikingly without appearing too dramatic, whilst the sound effects used at points in the audio guide (such as a mob during Kristallnacht, Olère hurriedly drawing his sketches, and SS personnel enjoying themselves at Solahütte) really allow a history that might seem very distant, particularly to young people, to come to life. I was also very impressed with the way the exhibition was related to a Spanish audience, with displays on the German Condor Legion that fought in the Civil War and the number of Spaniards imprisoned in concentration camps. It will be very interesting to see how this history is linked to the other countries in which it will be displayed.
For more information on the exhibtion, visit www.auschwitz.net.
