That day is marked in Poland as the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Nazi German Concentration and Extermination Camps, in memory of the first Poles transported to Auschwitz on June 14, 1940.
The exhibition will be held at the Bank of America Gallery at the Union Station.
George Guastello, Union Station President and CEO, has told the media that bringing exhibition "to our vast and diverse communities is one of the highest honors we can imagine. Hundreds of thousands of American military passed through Union Station on the way to the two world wars.
"After the wars, we were the scene of countless reunions. And, in fact, after WWII, we helped welcome Holocaust survivors to their new homes, right here in the Midwest. Indeed, ours is a history filled with humility and honor."
He added: "We are well on our way to seeing a record-setting attendance and, more importantly, bringing the powerful and important message of Auschwitz to people from all over the United States and across generations."
The Auschwitz. Not so long ago. Not so far away exhibition has been prepared jointly by the Auschwitz Museum in Poland and the Spanish company Musealia.
It traces the development of German Nazi ideology and the transformation of the ordinary Polish town of Oświęcim into the world’s largest concentration and extermination camp, where around 1.1 people perished, mostly European Jews, Polish and Soviet POWs, Sinti and Roma.
The artifacts on display include suitcases, eyeglasses, shoes and other personal items that belonged to survivors and victims of Auschwitz; concrete posts that were part of the fence of the Auschwitz camp; fragments of an original barrack for prisoners; a desk and other possessions of the first and the longest serving Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss; and an original German-made Model 2 freight wagon used for the deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in occupied Poland.
The exhibition is currently on show at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, where it closes on May 2. It had earlier been shown in Madrid. After Kansas City it will return to Europe.
(mk/pk)
Source: Auschwitz Museum website/PAP