Should visitors to Auschwitz pay an entrance fee?

They didn't notice that entrance was being asked for Sobibor :)

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M-G (oh gee, the gates of hell will now be opened upon us?)

Why should Polish tax revenues pay for the upkeep of Auschwitz? The German Nazis made it reality. Maintaining it makes us the guilty party in the eyes of the Jew especially the American Jew who dose not know any better and every other uneducated moron out there. We should maintain only part of it in memory of the Poles who died there and forget the rest. Either Germans should be responsible for the maintenance of the facility as it’s their doing or Jews themselves as they claim it to be their cemetery to keep it admission free.

We paid long enough, 65 years to be exact, and the thanks we get in return is distortion of history and accusations. Now every undereducated Journalist associates Auschwitz with it being Polish Death Camp. This only goes to prove if you’re just trying to be decent you’ll be sh**** upon, in case of Israeli visitors I’m not using some sort of metaphor here, I do mean it literally. This will only escalate if something is not done about it soon.

Not only there should be a set price for the ticket to take care of the maintenance costs of the museum itself, but portion of that money should help the local business to recoup their costs associated with the Israeli youths stay there. The damage to the rooms, the clean up costs to scrape the sh** off the walls should also carry a hefty surcharge for it being a hazardous material. The way I figure it, Jews themselves would keep the wild ones at bay, being too cheap to pay for the damage they cause while they stay here and everything would be kosher.

The first part I partly agree with, the last sentense is plain nonsense. Pls read my first post: Auschwitz rises above Poland and the rest of the world as monument to human cruelty. And I am willing to pay an entrance fee for it. Oh, and why do you promote the exception to be a rule?

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M-G (denying that makes you part of the group you described above)

Perhaps it is provocative but not nonsense. We maintained this facility for many years, all through the communist years partly because of the propaganda machine of the communist party itself but for the most part in memory of the victims that died there regardless of who they were, including Polish ones. Poles were the victims, yet these days we are portrayed as the villains by western, mostly Jewish press. It does make one question what sinister plot might be lurking in the shadows associating us with the villains in the press and the provocative action taken by the Jewish youth designed to provoke reaction on our part to prove to the world once as for all how anti-Semitic Poles are. Besides as the logic of one of the posters suggests that the victims should not be made to pay for the upkeep of the museum, then neither should we for we were the victims and still are being victimized till this very day by the descendants of Jewish victims, not only in negative newspaper articles but also in form of property damage and physical assaults on the locals perpetrated by the Jewish youth. Enough is enough and people should voice their opinion loud and clear so that the whole world may hear.

That's why I said it would be a good idea to ask entrance for it or have it financed by the EU as it rises above all nations and I agreed that it shouldn't be paid for by the Polish taxpayer. It's a monument for mankind, not just one country. And, and that's why I stated it was nonsense, you cannot see one group of Auschwitz victims apart from the others. They were all in it together and they all suffered together. That's why it's a monument for mankind.

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M-G (if there is one place where the ppls of the Earth should feel like brothers, it's Auschwitz, imo)

No, visitors to Auschwitz should never pay an entrance fee. (Out of respect for all the victims.) It's basically a graveyard, so I don't think you should charge people to see it. Besides, I believe education should be free for all. Maybe we should all consider a collective EU fund for memorial sites like Auschwitz?

It was a crime against humanity so we should all pay maybe it will fall down,and we can erect a monument with an inscription saying. On this site countless numbers of innocent people died because a European tribe lost its head.

I would have no objection to it, as long as the money ONLY is used for maintenance of the complex. And, if it is to remain free of entrance, the EU should step in and give the dough to maintain it. Fair is fair.

But you're right that it's basically a grave yard, when I go there, I basically visit the graves of a lot of my anchestors. Only difference with a grave yard is that in a normal grave yard, the ppl who lie there are generally not killed there.

But I do understand that money doesn't grow on trees and that there has to be some sort of funding to keep this monument in existance for many generations to come, so we won't forget to what hatred can lead.

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M-G (tiens)

I wish they wouldn't, but it seems some people forget it everyday.

just make 5 plz entrance fee for residents ( Poles ) and for non residents ( other nations ) 25 plz

Fine, I don't need the education anyway, but apparantly some of the residents do.

There should be no entrance fee.
Its upkeep should be maintained by the state in memory of all the Polish people ( and others ) that died there.

A warning from my part of the world..........

Culloden was a disaster for the Highlanders of Scotland. Thousands were massacred and ethnicaly cleansed as a result of the actions of the British Government troops and a way of life destroyed forever.

Nowadays you pay to see a sanitised ( Brit Gov ) version of events at the visitor centre, there are people employed dressed as the loathed Redcoats and you have to pay to park if you want to pay your respects to your forebearers at the graves of the clans.

Could Auschwitz go the same way ?

If they benefited from dead Jews then why not?
Explain to me which part of this BBC documentary is not true:

youtube.com/watch?v=YauM5dHLn1s

I think Poland is sending out a super message by maintaining it as it stands. I wouldn't object to an entrance fee given its historical significance but I've been so.....

The international community should chip in. This is in the interests of us all not to allow such an atrocity to happen again. We share this burden!

Seanus, that is exactly what I said in a previous post. I agree that we all must seek to maintain this monument of to what human cruelty and hatred can lead and learn the lesson it teaches us.

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M-G (tiens)

Absolutely right! By making regular contributions, we reinforce our commitment! We have seen multiple breaches of the Genocide Convention since its inception in 1948 and we can ill afford more. We, the people, can vote with out feet and make a stand, regardless of what our inept governments do.

Just keep in mind that you always run the risk that Ausschwitz will become just another tourist attraction. Don't know if that is desirable.

I doubt it! Also, that's for the people to decide! It was a big deal for me going there. If you can imagine what happened then it must be that way.

I've never been there myself, but read quite a bit about Israeli kids visiting the camp. These state-sponsored "horror trips" made Auschwitz a (sick) tourist destination already, IMHO.

I don't think so, Other. I think the whole event and idea for which Auschwitz stands is too deep and too painful and too gross to ever become a tourist attraction - that is if you mean in a sense like "Keukenhof" in NL or some attractionpark.

Edit: for those few who don't know what the Keukenhof is; it's the huge yearly exhibition of flowers close to Amsterdam. Here's a link:

keukenhof.nl/index/en

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M-G (yes another Dutch example as today is Queensday and we all are Dutch today:) )

I agree, M-G. Those with a conscious should follow the verstehen approach and try to put themselves in the shoes of those that were there. There is little worse than the anger at being the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Injustice bites hard!

Let us never accept guilty by association. Stronger minds will always rise above that and God Bless them!

No, I didn't mean tourist attraction in the sense of 'amusement park'. More like a must-see destination in Poland where people somewhat forget what it was all about.

It is one thing knowing what it was all about, it's another to feel the severity/magnitude of it. I would pay the entrance fee for the simple reason that there is minimal distortion of the truth. I listened in on a tour guide giving her account and it moves away from the inherent bias of some authors that are in it for book sales :(

Well, I'm part of the "group of victims", so common sense says I could never be guilty by association. But I keep an open mind on how these things should be treated and if money is needed to maintain it, I would say it's not fair to let the Polish taxpayer cough up all the money and start charging a tenner or have the EU provide funding.

Other, I do get your point now. How painful it may be, it's part of PL now and inevitably when American tourist come to PL they will want to see proof of the biggest blunder in human history...

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M-G (that doesn't mean that it's obligatory, though)

If the amount of money neede to uphold the complex should be collected only through entry fees, these would have to be in 40-60 PLN area at least. This is not aceptable. Its not an amusement park and not a museum. Everyone should have the possibility to see it regardless of their income.

On the other hand in the second and up to now last visit of me in the KZ last year, I was surprised how many people were running through the complex with cameras in their hands smiling, children in places they should not be, so maybe they should charge A LOT!!! It wasn't like that some 15 years age when I was the first time there. I was really angry about this!

But at the end, I think it must be free.

Back in the early eighties I was working in the Highlands and I visited Cullodon many times I'm sure you will know what mean when I say it had a quite and strange atmosphere. I knew what had happened at Cullodon, but I had to go there to feel what had happened. The survivors of the battle were sold into slavery a fact which came to light a few years ago.

When I went to Cullodon there was no enterance fee or no car park charge just a little shop that sold post cards and books.

Recards

if all the people who went to Auschwitz were obliged to go on a paid tour then it might pay for itself and visitors might learn and remember.

But as i've said before I think it should be left to fall into decay.

I think that if any foreigner country is obligated to help Poland to help with it, it must be Israel. This place is importnant for them as much as for us. Camp was Nazi but museum is our.

It cannot be left to go bad, that's for sure. People travel far and wide to see life's treasures and historical sites. I didn't begrudge any of my payments in Japan as I appreciated their value. I still think that it should be an EU matter.

Since I hear so many of my original points concerning this matter in this thread coming back, I will quote my first post, just in case anyone missed it.

And don't forget: you heard it first on M-G radio :))

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M-G (has to meet a bunch of Spaniards now, I hope it will be hotties, but I'm afraid it will be only men :S )