Controversial photo of the Auschwitz Museum. What’s going on?

Controversy erupted over internet users over a photo illustrated with greetings from the Auschwitz Museum during Hanukkah’s Jewish holiday. It shows, among other things, Afghan women wearing burqas. The director of the facility, Piotr Cywiński, explained that photography should “visualize the atmosphere of the celebration”.

The museum posted greetings on social media on Sunday night. It was illustrated with a photo taken in August of this year. In the capital of Afghanistan – Kabul, by Paula Bronstein. It depicts women, including. Burqa and niqab.

Comments appeared under posts asking Internet users why a photo of a Muslim woman was used to illustrate a Jewish holiday.

In the evening, the museum released a description under the posts. Every year, it points out, “Hanukkah, the cover for Christmas and New Year has a picture that promotes personal moral reflection in the world we live in.”

The director of the museum Piotr Cywiński mentioned this on social media. He recalled that the facility had been expressing preferences for many years and explaining them through “photos of today’s world”.

Yes, to show the context of the celebration

He pointed out.

We had a serious confusion about what to show this year. According to many, the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border was very tense. But we chose Afghanistan. With full awareness that what happened there will cause all the bad global change. In front of us. Today, women are paying the worst price out there – tomorrow, probably all of us

– Director Cywiński wrote on social media.

In previous years, photographs illustrating the options, among other things, Uyghur and refugee drama.

Hanukkah is a happy Jewish holiday. It is reminiscent of the Maccabees’ victory over the Greeks. According to the Jewish calendar, it begins on the 25th day of the month of Kislev and lasts for eight days. It is the end of November or December.

Auschwitz-Birkenau’s German extermination camp

The Germans established the Auschwitz camp in 1940 and imprisoned the Poles there. Auschwitz II-Birkenau was founded two years later. It became a place of extermination of the Jews. There was a network of sub-camps on the camp premises. In Auschwitz, the Germans killed at least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews. Nearly half of the poles deported to camps of about 140-150 thousand died. Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and other nationalities also died in Auschwitz.

In 1947, a museum was established on the premises of the former Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps. In 1979, the former camp was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

tkwl / PAP / Twitter