HERZLIYA, Israel & OŚWIĘCIM, Poland & WARSAW, Poland & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AppsFlyer, the global marketing analytics leader, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation today announced a joint program to create a set of immersive technological solutions including a guided virtual tour of the Auschwitz Memorial aimed at enhancing the educational value for visitors from around the globe.
Due to Covid-19, for the first time since its opening in 1947, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum had to close its doors to visitors, thus being unable to provide the world with access to the material remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp that is one of the main global symbols of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity.
Given this challenge, AppsFlyer partnered with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to support their continued efforts in preserving the biggest and most important Holocaust memorial site in the world. This collaboration will lead to developing innovative tools and immersive tour formats providing millions of people around the world with modern educational opportunities through remote guided visits. This development will make the Memorial and its important heritage accessible to all, including people and nations who wouldn't be able to bear witness in any other capacity. It will support educators guiding visitors on site.
Through its social impact center, AppsFlyer Cares, AppsFlyer will be responsible for funding and will lead the program along with the Museum and Foundation. Diskin, an Israeli creative agency, was selected as the creative lead for the program. These innovative solutions will enable both live and on-demand online tours through the Memorial led by trained museum educators. They will also become an extension of the onsite tour, sensitively layering relevant content over the silent remains.
“In 2020, only 502,000 people visited the Auschwitz Memorial, nearly five times less than the year before. Due to the pandemic, last year we were forced to close the historical site to visitors for 161 days, and it still hasn’t opened this year,” said Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. “Whether it be through online virtual tours or onsite group tours, the Auschwitz Memorial and resources must always be available, accessible, and adaptable to all who attempt to comprehend it. The Voices from Auschwitz cannot be muted. In Auschwitz we can fully confront and address the most important questions about mankind, society, the poison of antisemitism, racial hatred and contempt towards others. Remembrance gives us strength to act responsibly and repair the world we live in, while making it better for our children and their children.”
“The tremendous consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic made it clear that innovative tools must be applied to bridge history with the present and respond to amplified needs of young generations,” said Wojciech Soczewica, Director-General, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. “That is why the Foundation decided to initiate educational programs to support the Memorial’s global mission. We’re extremely grateful for the unique and true partnership with the team at AppsFlyer. Working jointly in these challenging times proves that our common responsibility for history must always be based on mutual trust and understanding.”
“When we learned that the Auschwitz memorial site was closed for the first time after 75 years due to Covid-19, we felt an urgent responsibility to act,” said Oren Kaniel, CEO and Co-Founder, AppsFlyer. “Supporting the Holocaust survivor community has been a big part of AppsFlyer Cares for years. We prioritized this important project because time is of the essence, as the number of live survivors is declining, and in a few years they’ll all be gone. Tragically, Covid-19 has been accelerating this. We must make sure that even when they can no longer share their own stories, the world will never forget. My grandmother, who passed away two years ago, lost her entire family in Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps. This is true for many Israeli and Jewish families around the world. We’re extremely proud to put our expertise in mobile to good use to make this eternal promise to survivors a reality.”
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed today, January 26th, in Poland and Israel, by the Museum Director, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, the Foundation Director-General, Wojciech Soczewica, the Foundation Financial Director, Elwir Świętochowski and AppsFlyer’s Co-Founder and CEO, Oren Kaniel.
Learn more about the Auschwitz Memorial here and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation here.
To learn more about the program and take an active part in making it a reality, please contact Liron Or, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Liron.or@appsflyer.com.
About the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Auschwitz is a worldwide known symbol of terror, genocide and the Holocaust. The concentration camp was established by the German Nazis in 1940. Initially the prisoners and victims of the camp were Poles. Among its prisoners were also Jews, Roma, Soviet POWs and prisoners of other nationalities and minorities.
From 1942 the camp became one of the places of the extermination of European Jews and Roma People. Most of the Jews deported to Auschwitz were murdered in gas chambers immediately after arrival. In total, at least 1.1 million people, including one million Jews, were murdered by the Germans in Auschwitz. The camp was liberated by the Soviet army on January 27, 1945.
Fulfilling the wish of survivors, on July 2, 1947, the Polish parliament created the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the site of two preserved parts of the former German Nazi camp: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The Memorial commemorates the victims of Auschwitz and protects the site of the former camp. Today it includes an Archive and Collections, and undertakes research, conservation, and publishing activities. It is, above all, an education center that teaches visitors about the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust.
About the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation
The Foundation was established in 2009 by Władysław Bartoszewski, an Auschwitz survivor, to safeguard the preservation of all material remains of the Memorial Site. In order to reach this goal the Foundation has built an international coalition of 40 donor states, major cities and private donors who contribute to maintaining the painful testimonies of the past. In 2020 the Foundation decided to expand its mission to include educational programs furthering the global outreach of the Auschwitz Memorial.
For more, visit www.foundation.auschwitz.org.
About AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer, the global attribution leader, empowers marketers to grow their business and innovate with a suite of comprehensive measurement and analytics solutions. Built around privacy by design, AppsFlyer takes a customer-centric approach to help 12,000+ brands and 8,000+ technology partners make better business decisions every day. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com.
About AppsFlyer Cares
AppsFlyer Cares is AppsFlyer’s social impact center, built to make a lasting significant impact by investing 1% of the company’s resources to generate a positive change in the world. By uniting forces and working with local partners, AppsFlyer Cares is able to develop sustainable investments to benefit our communities and create innovative initiatives with a lasting impact.
