Our duty is to safeguard the memory of Auschwitz
A conversation with Piotr Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Interviewer: Aureliusz Marek Pędziwol
December 7, 2025 -
Aureliusz M. Pędziwol
Piotr Cywiński
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InterviewsIssue 6 2025Magazine
Photo: Praszkiewicz / Shutterstock
AURELIUSZ MAREK PĘDZIWOL: On the 50th anniversary of Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany, the Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl famously said that every nation is capable of a Holocaust. Was he right?
PIOTR CYWIŃSKI: I don’t know. These words were quite provocative, which is probably why it has remained a famous quote. Frankl said them in Austria. I wonder if he would have had the strength to make the same statement in other places around the world? Perhaps every nation is capable of genocide, but not every nation has committed it. Looking at the horrifying examples of the 20th century and of recent years, one could compile a far longer list of countries or regions that have not experienced genocide than those that have. For instance, there was no genocide in Britain’s Falklands War. Thus, even a dramatic military conflict can still be conducted in accordance with international conventions and without systematic violations of civilian rights.
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Auschwitz, Holocaust, Second World War
