Auschwitz cash crisis.

[maxbailey]

Video clip of crisis.

It is a bitterly cold winter's day at one of the most notorious and harrowing places on Earth. Patches of ice crunch underfoot with every step, punctuating the silence which has long pervaded this former killing field.

This is Birkenau, the largest camp in the Auschwitz complex, where most of its 1.1 million victims - 90% of them Jews - were murdered.

But after nearly seven decades exposed to the elements, few of what were originally hundreds of structures remain standing, and those which have survived are gradually rotting away.

Unlike the smaller Auschwitz I - sturdy brick-built former Polish cavalry barracks expropriated by the Nazis - Birkenau (or Auschwitz II) - was erected in 1941 solely as a death camp, and was not built to last.

With every passing year the urgency to preserve what is left of the site grows, and while steps are being taken to do so, crucial conservation work is hampered by a shortage of funds.

"Auschwitz Museum is in a financial crisis, that's for sure," says site spokesman Pawel Sawicki.

"We do not have sufficient money to develop a long-term conservation plan. We can only be reactive, say if there's damage to a building we repair it - we can't be proactive," he says.

"And if we can't secure the buildings and conserve the site properly, we will be forced to close it to the public in a few years."

Full story here

Any thoughts anyone?

[Trips]

I'm not a hebrew but I'll throw my two cents. Regardless if the physical structures survive, the psyche of the world will never forget those atrocities. I'd let them rot, as an example lets say my uncle was hanged for a crime he didn't commit, that doesn't mean I'd spend resources to keep the gallows in good condition.