Witold Bańka, the Polish Minister of Sport and Tourism announced on Twitter that he had dismissed the Head of the Polish Tourist Organisation (PTO) Marek Olszewski for his “outrageous statement” made in an interview for the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
On Wednesday, Gazeta Wyborcza published an article where the Head of the PTO explained why Auschwitz and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews were removed from the agenda of tours promoting Poland.
“Polish, not Jewish, elites were completely decimated during the war”
“Auschwitz is not a tourist product but a place of martyrdom, reflection and thought, while we promote Poland as an attractive tourist destination. Moreover, we want to emphasize the precious aspects of our own culture and showcase our significant input into Europe’s development. I do not feel the need to promote places and events relating to the history of other nations,” Olszewski said.
“Polish, not Jewish, elites were completely decimated and wiped out during the war. Let’s remember that Jewish culture survived virtually intact. In the 1930s there were many Jews who emigrated from Germany. That was impossible in Poland under German occupation,” he added.
“In connection with the outrageous comment made by the Head of the PTO Marek Olszewski, I have decided to dismiss him with immediate effect,” announced Poland’s Minister of Sport and Tourism Witold Bańka on Twitter this Wednesday.
Criticism from the International Auschwitz Committee
On Wednesday, the International Auschwitz Committee (IAC) criticized the remark made by the former Head of the Polish Tourist Organization about removing the German Auschwitz concentration camp from the program of tours promoting Poland.
“It was with great surprise and outrage that former Auschwitz prisoners received, at the General Assembly of the International Auschwitz Committee, the statement made by the Head of the Polish Tourist Organisation about removing the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews from future tours organised for foreign guests,” reads the press release issued by the Vice-President of the IAC Christoph Heubner. The document quotes the Vice-President of the IAC Marian Turski as saying: “Yesterday, on the occasion of our General Assembly, we received a letter from the President of Poland, who thanked former Auschwitz prisoners for their work at the Museum of the German Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. The Auschwitz Museum is visited by millions of tourists from across the world, just like the POLIN museum in Warsaw. Only an ignorant fool seeking to harm Poland’s image and tourism could have floated the idea to have the museum removed from tours organised for tourists or foreign journalists”.
The General Assembly of the IAC has been held in Oświęcim since Tuesday. Its participants discuss issues such as teaching future generations the truth about German camps and the Holocaust once all eyewitnesses are gone.
A statement from the Director of the POLIN Museum
Professor Dariusz Stola, Director of Warsaw’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews also addressed the decision made by the Minister of Tourism. “It was with surprise that I received the news that the museum had been removed from tours organised by the PTO for foreign media representatives. The POLIN Museum was the only one in Poland to have been awarded the title of the European Museum of the Year and managed to become one of the most important museums in Poland within a very short period of time. Every year, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Half of almost one million people who have visited our permanent exhibition were foreigners, who always leave this place extremely impressed and rate the museum very highly, which can be easily verified on key tourist websites. In the report published recently by the Warsaw Tourism Office, our museum is mentioned by tourists from across the world as the third most important place in Poland’s capital city,” the Professor wrote in a letter sent to the media on Wednesday.
He also referred to the statement made by Olszewski. He noted that it was a “token of historical ignorance and harmful drive to impoverish the history and culture of our country, to reduce all things Polish to a tribal or racist framework”. “I hope that Mr. Olszewski was misquoted, because otherwise his words would have to be considered scandalous,” said the Director of the POLIN Museum.
Promotion of Poland
Olszewski, who assumed office in late February 2017, is a manager with 30 years of experience in the hospitality and tourism industry. Before becoming Head of the PTO he worked in the SPA and recreation tourism industry.
The Polish Tourist Organization (PTO) is a government institution established under the Act of 25 June 1999 on the Polish Tourist Organisation. It has been operating since 1 January 2000. It is overseen by the minister responsible for tourism, i.e. currently by the Minister of Sport and Tourism.
PTO’s main goal is to promote Poland in the country and abroad as an attractive tourist destination, especially in terms of its culture, and to strengthen Poland’s image as a modern country with a strong national identity, rich in attractive environmental assets.
The PTO works with representatives of the government, including regional authorities, local governments, the Polish Chamber of Tourism and other organizations and associations operating in the tourism industry.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl
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