It is acceptable for the Polish government to house its current criminals in Auschwitz-Birkenau

Some years ago, when my (now ex-) wife and I were in our twenties, I took her to Auschwitz - at the beginning the Second World War her grandfather was a Czechoslovak resistance fighter who was captured by the Nazis and interned in this concentration camp (he survived the ordeal, thankfully) and I thought she might be interested to see with her own eyes where he was imprisoned. Unfortunately, though, my wife and I were both totally underwhelmed by the exhibition at Auschwitz-Birkenau - all there was to see was a sterile collection of austere-looking buildings, the reconstructed crematorium and a dusty old museum full of faded documents and black and white photographs. (1) We ambled about for an hour or so, trying to justify the long journey we had made to get there, before leaving feeling quite disappointed. And if we found Auschwitz-Birkenau uninspiring, even with my wife's family connection to the place, imagine how bored and frustrated even younger visitors must be. This matters because it is especially important for children and young adults to learn the lessons of history and the exhibition at Auschwitz-Birkenau could and should represent a solemn reminder to future generations of what can happen if people allow their nationalist sentiments and racial prejudices to be exploited by extreme Right-wing politicians. So, because it is currently so difficult for visitors to Auschwitz-Birkenau to picture in their minds the misery and suffering that the prisoners endured there, it is clear that something must be done to make the site more dynamic and appealing. As far as I can see, there are two alternative solutions to this challenge: 1 – Imprison Polish convicts in Auschwitz-Birkenau, which my opponent is against but which I am in favour of, and thus make the prisoners exhibits in a living museum, and so ensure the suffering of the inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War is properly appreciated (more on this later), or: 2 – Licence the Auschwitz-Birkenau facility to a multi-national leisure corporation so they can open a theme park on the site, which they might name The Holocaust Hotel & Resort, and which would probably feature amusements such as: The Heil Hitler Helter Skelter Goebbels' Ghost Train Aryan Racing Cars Waffen-SS Water-SSplash Reichsfï¿½hrer's Rollercoaster The Fascist Ferris Wheel Goering's Gas Chamber of Horrors The War Crimes Waltzer And mingling among the crowds there would no doubt be hosts dressed in outsized costumes of cartoon characters such as: Dick Taitor Holly Korst Des Pott Jenny Side Percy Cute Of course, all these attractions would probably make the guests hungry, which is why the gas chambers would perhaps be converted into a pizza restaurant - and the crematory ovens fired up once again to bake the pizzas in – and this could be what the menu would look like: PIZZAS Neo-Nazi Neapolitan Genocide Genoa Fascist Fiorentina Death March Margherita Storm Trooper Supreme Holocaust Hawaiian DRINKS Choice of Deutschland ï¿½ber ales including Birkenau-Brau and Konzentrations Lager Selection of Waffen-SS SSodas Freshly-squeezed orange Jews (not made from concentration campers) I believe that if the Polish government chose this second option and allowed a private company to exploit the suffering of those interned in Auschwitz-Birkenau for profit, this would represent a grevious insult to the memories of those who died there, and they would, quite rightly, face intense criticism from the international community. However, if they chose the first option and enhanced the poiniency of Auschwitz-Birkenau by housing prisoners within the memorial site to help visitors better visualise life in Auschwitz-Birkenau under the Nazis then the rest of the world would applaud the Poles for their efforts to bring the atrocities committed there to a wider audience. To illustrate this I will address my opponent's sub-points in turn as follows: A) The History of the place demands its sanctity is not disturbed. On many of the famous historical battlefields of Europe and North America the conflicts of the past are re-created by battle re-enactment societies. This is done for their own enjoyment but also for the benefit of the public who are able to better understand the history of the event because it is brought to life for them. These mock battles usually take place on the very ground where thousands of people died but nobody objects and "demands that the sanctity of the place is not disturbed" – that's because they know that the re-enactment is educational. B) Using it as a prison is the worlds penultimate hate crime. My opponent wrote: "Re-opening Auschwitz-Birkenau as a prison is re-opening the wounds of the Holocaust." The wounds of the Holocaust have never healed: it remains deeply embedded in the psyches of Jews, Gypsies, Russians and other groups that suffered at the hands of the Nazis, even generations later. Furthermore, it is vital that the Holocaust should remain in the conciousness of humanity and never be forgotton lest the mistakes of the past are made again. Revitalising Auschwitz-Birkenau by installing real prisoners there once again will help keep the memories of the past alive. I believe Jewish people in general, and the Israeli government in particluar, would recognise the righteousness of enhancing Auschwitz-Birkenau in this way but, even if they didn't, I don't believe the Israeli government: beligerent, belicose and aggressive though it often is; would launch an attack on a NATO member with all the dire concequences for them that would ensue from such a course of action. Iran, maybe, Poland, no. (C) This is a breach of the actual prisoners rights. A lot is spoken of prisoners' human rights, but not so much of the rights of their victims. Perhaps fod rations could be increased in relation to those of the Nazi times, and fewer inmates would be incarcerated in each building but, beyoind that, I don't think we need concern ourselves unduly with providing convicts with luxurious accomodation. (D) It could be said that Auschwitz-Birkenau is in fact the "ideal" prison-it is not. It's not an ideal prison at the moment but the security measures could easily be beefed up: and imagine, if the watch-towers were once again manned by armed guards, how that would make the whole visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau all the more evocative of the Nazi era and, by extention, therefore, more educational. To conclude, the two alternative options my opponent suggested to solve the Polish prison crisis are unworkable and dangerous to both prisoners and public alike, whereas re-opening Auschwitz-Birkenau as a functioning prison within the context of a living museum not only solves the prison crisis but would also help keep the horrors of the past alive. That way, hopefully, a genocide along the lines of the Holocaust will never happen again. Thank you. (1) http://en.auschwitz.org...