[3] Before the Holocaust, Oswiecim was a bustling town with a mostly Jewish population with synagogues, study houses, clubs, schools, shops and other businesses.

Special study programs on the history of the Holocaust as well as contemporary prejudices and hate-motivated violence are prepared for students, teachers and uniformed services.

The work was carried out by archaeologists from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, under the supervision of dr Małgorzata Grupa, during which the team recovered over 400 elements of the temple's equipment.

The Ner Tamid (Hebrew for eternal light) was found, along with other items, during the archaeological work carried out in the area of the Great Synagogue on Berka Joselewicza Street in 2004.

In the years preceding the Second World War, the majority of Oświęcim’s citizens were Jewish; subsequent generations contributed to a rich and layered local culture.

The Khevre Loymdei Mishnayos (English translation: Association of Those Who Study Mishna) is the only Jewish house of prayer in Oświęcim, that has survived to the present day (close to twenty functioned in and around town before the war).

The last remaining survivor of Auschwitz living on Oświęcim, Shimson Kleuger, made efforts to preserve the building and to campaign for its renovation and restoration.

[10] The building was then donated by his heirs to the Auschwitz Jewish Center, which in 2013 carried out a major renovation and conversion to the Cafe Bergson museum café, along with educational and exhibition space.

At Cafe Bergson, cultural and educational projects are carried out on both the past of Oświęcim and the contemporary subject of human rights and the natural environment.