Extermination and concentration camp Auschwitz - Birkenau in the context of the world cultural heritage UNESCO and post-war so called Auschwitz trials
Abstract
This given article attempts to cover the topic of the Extermination and Concentration Camp Auschwitz – Birkenau in a twofold way. First of all, it tracks down the basic legislation applicable for the protection of this memorial site both in the international context (as the Auschwitz Memorial is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979) and in the national context of the Polish legislation adopted from 1947 on in order to preserve the site and lay down the basic principles for its monumental protection care, preservation of its dignity and integrity.
Secondly, it singles out various international and national criminal trials, which were significantly connected to the operation of the Auschwitz – Birkenau camp during the WW II. In this part it points at legal proceeding that were carried out by the Allies at Nuremberg and national trials such as those in Poland (Rudolf Höss trial and the first Auschwitz trial), Germany (esp. the second Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt), the trial with the main executive officer for the final solution Adolf Eichmann in Israel or trials in Austria.
In the synopsis it is argued that both the Auschwitz – Birkenau Memorial Site itself and the post-WW II trials have a complementary importance in the remembrance of holocaust and the education about it. Both have achieved to open the issue of the Nazi genocide to wide public and confront the society with the past in an attempt to avoid it being repeated.