It has become the most visited tourist site in Poland. The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp welcomes nearly two million visitors each year, who came to discover what remains the symbol of the Holocaust. A pilgrimage made possible thanks to a team of guides to the extraordinary profession, which have made the transmission of the history of the Shoah their profession.
Of our correspondent in Auschwitz,
« This part has become the women’s sector, and you know at least one testimony from here. The testimony of Madame Simone ».
During her 27 years of career, Dorota guided several thousand tourists in the heart of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Every day, she goes on three and a half hours visits, tirelessly repeating the horror of the Shoah against visitors. “” Sometimes there are difficult days. Imagine someone who has lost the whole family here, there are a lot of bad emotions that are found on our shoulders. So after such a visit, we need time to detach ourselves from this place, from this subject. I think everyone could not be a guide here, and teach visitors and stay here for a long time ».
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An audience less and less aware
Over time, she has seen the profile evolve not only, but also the behavior of visitors. Faced with an audience that is sometimes less respectful of the history of the holocaust, she recognizes that the guides had to adapt their speech to the point of overflowing their primary function. “” The function of guides has evolved, we are sometimes teachers, sometimes psychologists, pedagogues. But we are also here to protect the site, to say that this or that behavior is incorrect, to talk about respect, or to reprimand people who do things not to do here ».
-In total, the museum has 320 guides from all walks of life which animate visits to twenty different languages. Aged 25 to 70 years old, Dorota colleagues are all enthusiasts of history, some of whom have another work alongside. Tomasz Michaldo, in charge of their recruitment, imposes the milestones of the visit to them, while leaving them the possibility of personalizing it.
Tomasz himself strives to tell those of the survivors he met in person, and some of whom have disappeared today: ” It is sure that being a guide in Auschwitz is not a classic job that anyone could do. But it seems to me that there is not a single universal good way to manage the experience that these visits constitute. I would say that 5 at 6% of those who start working with us end up resigning ».
In question, an emotional charge too intense for the less experienced. With fifteen years of experience, Tomasz is a duty to transmit this story, of which there will soon be no witness.
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