Minister-President Hendrik Wüst visits Auschwitz-Birkenau and the International Youth Centre in Oświęcim
On Wednesday 20 May 2026, Hendrik Wüst, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial together with Sylvia Löhrmann, the State Commissioner for Combating Anti-Semitism, for Jewish Life and Remembrance Culture.
Following his visit to the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Minister-President Wüst held discussions at the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oświęcim with its director, Joanna Klęczar-Déodat, the North Rhine-Westphalian pastor Manfred Deselaers, and young German volunteers.
The International Youth Meeting Centre was founded by Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (Action Reconciliation Service for Peace ) and the town of Oświęcim – with the support of former prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. Since its inauguration in 1986, it has been a place of encounter, remembrance and German-Polish understanding. This year, it is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The International Auschwitz Committee is one of the International Youth Meeting Centre’s strategic partners. It was founded in 1952 by survivors of Auschwitz to preserve the memory of the victims, represent the interests of the survivors and strengthen the links between the national Auschwitz committees.
Dr Eva Umlauf, President of the International Auschwitz Committee, was deported to Auschwitz with her mother when she was two years old. Commenting on Minister-President Hendrik Wüst’s visit, the Holocaust survivor said in Munich:
“The survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps regard the visit to Auschwitz by the Minister-President of Germany’s largest federal state, particularly at this time, as a political and human gesture of solidarity.
We are following political developments in Germany very closely at the moment. We have come to realise that far-right politicians in Germany are hostile to our memories and to the culture of remembrance. It saddens and dismays us to see the level of support these politicians of hate appear to be garnering in opinion polls, and how democracy in Germany is to torn apart according to their plans and election manifestos.”
Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, took part in the visit to the International Youth Meeting Centre on behalf of the Committee. Heubner has been involved in the planning and negotiations for the construction of the meeting centre in Oświęcim since 1980. For decades, he has been committed to commemorating the victims of Nazi crimes and to German-Polish reconciliation. In recognition of this commitment, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2021.
Christoph Heubner also gave Minister-President Hendrik Wüst and his delegation a tour of the Gerhard Richter BIRKENAU exhibition pavilion. On display there is a selection from the ‘Birkenau’ series by Gerhard Richter, winner of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Prize.
During Minister-President Hendrik Wüst’s visit, Christoph Heubner emphasised on behalf of the International Auschwitz Committee:
“Despite far-right rhetoric in Germany, the world’s gaze will continue to be drawn to Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald. Germany owes it to itself, to the world and to the survivors of the Holocaust to remember what happened at Auschwitz – and why it happened. It is only from this remembrance that the strength can grow to defend Europe as a place of diversity, democracy and human dignity.
Now, more than ever, democrats in Germany and Europe must stand together to combat far-right and anti-Semitic hatred.”
Link to the website of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
