New permanent exhibition at Auschwitz museum uses personal objects to show daily life of prisoners

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — Animal-shaped stencils a mother made from a concentration camp shoe and gave to her son for Christmas are among items in a new permanent exhibition at the Auschwitz museum, located on the site of the largest Nazi death camp.

Other items on display as officials unveiled the exhibition Friday included a paper bag for holding cement that was used as thermal underwear, and drawings made in secret by prisoners. The objects, detailing the everyday experiences of Auschwitz prisoners, were displayed in blocs 8 and 9 of the former Nazi concentration camp.

Magdalena Urbaniak, the exhibition's coordinator, said it was difficult and painful to imagine what the woman went through when she crafted the stencils from a shoe.

“It’s hard to describe this feeling, we can’t even understand this situation, the extreme situation in which this mother found herself in the camp, what emotions she experienced to do something for her child, to lift his spirits and contribute to his survival,” she said.

The new exhibition illustrates elements of the camp routine from the morning gong, through washing, meals and forced labor to evenings in the camp barracks. It gives visitors a glimpse into the feelings experienced by prisoners, from extreme hunger and cold to fear and hopelessness.

“Witnesses are passing away, the world is changing, technologies are changing, and new generations are emerging, requiring a new approach to the subject," Andrzej Kacorzyk, the deputy director of the Auschwitz museum, told The Associated Press. "Hence the need to portray humanity, the need to portray this individual fate.”

Nazi Germany built more than 40 concentration, labor and extermination camps at this location in occupied Poland during World War II.

The Nazis established the Auschwitz I camp in 1940 to imprison Poles, while Auschwitz II-Birkenau was opened two years later and became the primary site of the extermination of Jews during the Holocaust.

Nazi German forces ultimately murdered some 1.1 million people at the complex.

While most of the victims of the Holocaust were Jews killed on an industrial scale, Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others were also targeted for elimination.

The museum operating today on the site of the former Auschwitz camps was established in 1947 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The museum is currently in the process of changing its permanent exhibition, which had been in place for decades. Officials say the idea is to reflect new knowledge about Holocaust history as well as the evolving demographic of visitors.

The new permanent exhibition is being built on the ground floors of six blocks of the former Auschwitz I camp. The first phase of the museum’s modernization is complete with the opening of the exhibition in blocks 8 and 9.

A second phase, including an exhibition dedicated to the Holocaust in blocks 6 and 7, will be finalized in 2027. The third and final stage, represented by an exhibition describing the camp as an institution, located in blocks 4 and 5, is scheduled for completion in 2030.

FILE - The sun lights the buildings behind the entrance of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Germany, Dec. 6, 2019. (Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - The railway tracks where hundred thousands of people arrived to be directed to the gas chambers inside the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau, or Auschwitz II, are pictured in Oswiecim, Poland, on Dec. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)

Photographs from prisoners personal file cards displayed in its new permanent exhibition at the Nazi death Camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafal Niedzielski)

A photojournalist takes photos of sketches made by survivors after their liberation from Auschwitz and displayed near a whip, used in the Camp, in its new permanent exhibition at the former Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafal Niedzielski)

BOSTON (AP) — On the same day his wife was last seen alive, Brian Walshe went to multiple Massachusetts pharmacies and hardware stores to buy heavy-duty cleaning supplies, a Tyvek protective suit and a utility knife, according to prosecutors.

He made the trips after early morning internet searches including, “How long before a body starts to smell?” and “Dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body.” Over the next several days, he continued searching for how to dismember a body with a hacksaw, not reporting her missing until Jan. 4, when her employer began looking for her and contacted police.

Closing arguments began Friday in Walshe's trial on a charge of first-degree murder. On the day jury selection had been set to begin last month, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges of misleading police and improper disposal of a body.

His attorneys rested Thursday without calling any witnesses, despite speculation that Walshe might testify. His attorneys have tried to cast reasonable doubt, acknowledging he lied to investigators while arguing he panicked after discovering Ana dead following a New Year’s Eve gathering. With no body ever recovered, investigators have been unable to determine a cause of death.

“What could cause a loving husband and a loving father to do the things that you heard about in this case? Could it be something that was sudden, something that was unexpected, something that was unbelievable?” defense attorney Larry Tipton told jurors during closing arguments. “Something that only a medical examiner would have knowledge of, not a man like Brian Walshe?”

Tipton told jurors not to base their decision about whether Walshe killed his wife on the “upsetting and terrifying and at times, disgusting" acts he admitted to doing to her remains after she was dead.

“There’s evidence that he lied to police, there’s evidence that he searched the internet, there’s evidence that he disposed of the body, but there is no proof in all of the evidence that you’ve heard and been presented that he ever once thought about harming the woman he loved,” he said.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, have pointed to Walshe’s actions afterward as evidence of premeditation. Jurors were shown surveillance footage of him at stores like CVS, Walgreens and Lowe’s, where he purchased items including hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. Jurors also were shown photos of tools that investigators testified tested positive for blood, including a hacksaw and a hatchet.

When questioned, Walshe told police Ana had left Massachusetts on New Year’s Day for a work emergency in Washington, D.C., though witnesses testified there was no record of her booking a ride or boarding a flight. He did not contact her employer until Jan. 4.

At the time, Brian Walshe was at home awaiting sentencing in an unrelated art fraud case involving the sale of two fake Andy Warhol paintings.

Prosecutors also connected him to items found at a trash processing facility near his mother’s home, including a hatchet, hacksaw, towels, a Tyvek suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, boots like those Ana was last seen wearing and her COVID-19 vaccination card. Investigators testified Ana had also taken out a $2.7 million life insurance policy naming him as beneficiary.

Friends described Ana’s final weeks as emotionally strained. Gem Mutlu, who spent New Year’s Eve with the couple, said they appeared “very much in love,” though he later learned Ana and another man had exchanged messages that night.

Another friend, Alissa Kirby, told jurors Ana seemed exhausted by travel and stressed about her marriage. The two had recently grown close, walking together and going to karaoke; Kirby teared up when shown photos of them. She testified that Ana considered moving her family to Washington and said Brian often questioned whether she loved him.

Kirby also recounted two messages from Brian shortly before Ana was reported missing — one on Christmas, when he asked if she knew where Ana was, and another on Jan. 3: “I know we did this a week ago but have you heard from Ana?”

Diana Walshe listens to testimony as a photo of Brian Walshe's kitchen is projected on a monitor during his murder trial, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Mark Stockwell/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

A snapshot of Alissa Kirby, right, a friend of murder victim Ana Walshe, at left, is shown on a monitor during Brian Walshe's murder trial, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Mark Stockwell/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

Brian Walshe listens to testimony during his murder trial, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Mark Stockwell /The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)