International VIPs visit Waseda to commemorate opening of Mieczysław Kościelniak exhibition
Thu, Apr 2, 2015-
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“Children Behind Wire”courtesy of Michiko Nakamura
The Waseda University Cultural Affairs Division, co-organized with the Polish Cultural and Information Center in Tokyo and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland with cooperation of Ms. Michiko Nomura, is hosting an exhibition of paintings by Mieczysław Kościelniak who was imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp and made hundreds of paintings depicting the everyday realities of prisoners. The exhibition features nineteen of these paintings along with other documents related to Kościelniak.
Ambassador of Poland to Japan, Cyryl Kozaczewski
President Kamata and representatives from various countries including Ambassadors from the Republic of Poland and Czech Republic, as well as the Israel embassy’s Counselor for Security Policy attended the exhibition’s opening ceremony, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and vowing to never forget the tragedies of the war and the holocaust. Ambassador of Poland to Japan, Cyryl Kozaczewski, expressed the importance of encouraging youth to think about the hatred, intolerance, and discrimination experienced by many during the war. President Kamata commented, “To prevent the disasters of war from weathering from memory, I would like the youth of Japan to visit this exhibition and learn about these tragedies.”
Kościelniak, who depicted the experiences of Auschwitz prisoners despite certain dangers, has had his paintings entrusted to Waseda graduate Michiko Nakamura, who for twenty years, has preserved the 19 paintings and presented them at exhibitions around the world.
On April 18, a symposium entitled “What does Auschwitz have to teach us today?” will be held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Nakamura has decided to return the paintings to Kościelniak’s homeland of Poland this year. “This will be the last exhibition in Japan. Seventy years have passed since the war, but conflicts and acts of terrorism can be seen around the world. It is for this reason that I would like to show these paintings to as many people as possible, specifically young people who are unfamiliar with the reality of war,” commented Nakamura.
