18 Pillars of Remembrance

The authenticity of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, the only one of the major extermination camps preserved to this degree, is systematically maintained today by professional conservators. To meet this challenge it have been decided to create a Perpetual Capital. The revenue will finance comprehensive preservation work. Thanks to this, the authenticity of this place will endure to testify about the fate of those who can no longer tell their own story. 

The aim of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation established in 2009 is to create a Perpetual Capital which will finance conservation work and preservation of all authentic remains of the former Nazi German Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. 

The target amount of the Capital is 120 million Euro. The annual income goal is approximately 4-5 million Euro, which will make it possible to realize the Global Preservation Plan: a long term program which encompasses all the expert driven conservation work done at the Auschwitz Memorial. Creation of the Capital is possible thanks to help and generosity of countries from all around the world, the engagement of many corporations as well as individual patrons.

Over the last six years the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation worked with 30 countries to secure 102 million Euro. 18 million is still missing. Now, preserving Auschwitz-Birkenau can not be left exclusively to governments. Dedicated individuals need to step forward as citizens of the world. Generous 18 upstanders committed to reversing the history of those who stood idly by. 18 Individuals wanting their voices to be heard for this and future generation. 18 Pillars of Remembrance. 

Thanks to this, the authenticity of this place will endure to testify about the fate of those who can no longer tell their own story. We believe that it is possible to raise the €18 million still lacking in time for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 2015. We owe this to history and we owe it to future generations.

PILLARS OF REMEMBRANCE

• Melinda Goldrich and Andrea Goldrich Cayton and the Goldrich Family Foundation
, founded by their father, Jona Goldrich, Holocaust survivor, and real estate developer

• Elly Kleinman, a healthcare industry executive and founder of the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center, committed to retelling the Orthodox Jewish experience during the Holocaust

• Ronald S. Lauder, former US Ambassador to Austria; President of the World Jewish Congress 

• Frank Lowy, Founder of the Westfield Group, an Australian-based, world leader in shopping mall ownership and management and a Holocaust survivor who lost many members of his family at Auschwitz

• Lily Safra and the Edmond J. Safra Foundation.  Safra chairs the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, founded by her late husband. It is a leader in the support of medical research and health care, education, religion, humanitarianism, and culture

• Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, which supports efforts that help new generations engage with Jewish life in ways that are relevant, meaningful, and inspire people to help build a more just world

• Toronto Jewish Community

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PILLARS OF REMEMBRANCE