He received the honour at a ceremony in Warsaw from the British ambassador to Poland, Anna Clunes, and Lord Eric Pickles, the UK’s Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues.
In a brief address, Cywiński thanked "His Majesty the King, British diplomats, friends and colleagues at the Auschwitz Museum," saying that "this honourable distinction" makes him truly happy.
He added: ”Let me take this opportunity to make an appeal for an immediate and unconditional release of all civilians who are being held hostage in Ghaza. This has to be the first step towards building peace in the Middle East.”
Speaking in Polish, the British ambassador to Warsaw said that the OBE, approved by King Charles, is bestowed upon individuals whose lives are dedicated to important causes of the highest level.
Clunes also reflected on the deep impact her first visit to Auschwitz in 1998 had on her and her subsequent meetings with Cywiński during her time as ambassador.
"It is of great importance to pass on and understand history so that it never happens again," she said. "I am proud that Britain has recognized your dedication and work as the director of the Auschwitz Museum."
Lord Eric Pickles conveyed his congratulations to Cywiński, stressing that the Officer’s Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is not given for good work. “It is given for truly exceptional work,” he said.
He added: “We send two pupils from our secondary schools each year to Auschwitz. It’s part of a programme that they go through to understand what has happened. Poland is the custodian of the German death camps, and Auschwitz has an exceptional job of ensuring that the past is understood.”
A professional historian, Cywiński is a graduate of the University of Humanities in Strasbourg, France and of the Catholic University of Lublin in eastern Poland. In 2001, he obtained his PhD from the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2006, at the age of 34, he took over as director of the Auschwitz Museum.
In recent years, Cywiński has received high state distinctions from the governments of Belgium, Germany, Greece and France.
The Auschwitz Museum commemorates all the victims of the Nazi German camp, where some 1 million Jews, 70,000 Poles, 21,000 Sinti and Roma, 14,000 Soviet POWs and 12,000 people of other nationalities and groups were murdered.
(mk/gs)
