The beginning of the Mound building campaign was initiated by the first transport to the Auschwitz ex-prisoners – the founders and members of the Christian Association of the Auschwitz Families (the ChSRO), which is an organization gathering a lot of ex-prisoners, the ex-inmates' families and the victims of the camp as well as the people interested in the Auschwitz issue. The main aims of the ChSRO are: taking care of honest historical information about the Auschwitz, commemorating all the victims of this place and looking after the ex-prisoners. They also do a lot in the field of education.
 

On the 60th anniversary of the deportation to the KL Auschwitz, on the 14th June 2000 His Excellency, Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy consecrated a cobble-stone from the prison in Tarnów as a foundation stone for the Mound of Remembrance and Reconciliation.

The ex-prisoners treat building the Mound as their will for the next generations with the message of reconciliation for peace in the world. In Poland a mound is a kind of a monument paying tribute to those, for whom it is built. This way, the ex-inmates of the KL Auschwitz and the people engaged in this initiative want to pay tribute to all the victims of the genocide: the Jews, the Poles, the Roma People, the Russians and the representatives of different nations who died in the KL Auschwitz killed by the Nazi murderers.

The Mound will be a symbol of remembrance and meditation uniting the people and nations of the world in order to create the life in peace.

„We all want to pay tribute to those, who did not survive – said Mayor of Oświęcim, Janusz Marszałek during the ceremonial Session of the City Hall of Tarnów on the 13th June 2005 during the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the deportation of the Polish political prisoners to the KL Auschwitz. – We look with gratitude at those who survived and those who sacrificed their lives because thanks to them we can live and build our life in peace”.

Prof. Józef Szajna present at the celebrations said a few words to the youth:
„I do not want to tell you what to do and how to do it. We risked our lives for freedom. We were placed on this road because our life is a road we walk and walk on. And we learned that you can die a few times, but you live only once. Life is not and will not be easy. We must fight for life at our own pace. And we must fight with ourselves to show what is the best in us. My beloved, you live in the times of freedom. You are free to decide. Choose what you believe in”.

The Mound of Remembrance and Reconciliation will be built between the former extermination camps: the KL Auschwitz I and the KL Auschwitz II – Birkenau. The idea of building the Mound of Remembrance and Reconciliation was started in 1994 by prof. Józef Szajna, the ex-prisoner of the KL Auschwitz and the Buchenwald. Three years ago the idea was accepted by the International Council of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. The idea is also supported by the Council for the Protection of Remembrance, Combat and Martyrdom and the Governor of the Voivodeship of Małopolska.

Supporting prof. Józef Szajna's idea and fulfilling many first transport ex-prisoners' wish, the members of the Christian Association of the Auschwitz Families, Mayor of Oświęcim, Janusz Marszałek organized on the 30th June 2005 the meeting of the representatives of the organizations supporting the initiative of building the Mound of Remembrance and Reconciliation. Apart from prof. Józef Szajna, many other people participated in the meeting: the first transport to Auschwitz ex-prisoners: Józef Stós – camp number 752 – the Christian Association of the Auschwitz Families (the ChSRO), Kazimierz Zając – camp number 261 – the ChSRO, Mina Gottlieb and Feliks Tuszyński – the representatives of the Jewish Community from Kraków, Roman Kwiatkowski and Józef Jochymczyk – the Association of the Roma People in Poland, Monika Majsak – the representative of the Governor of the Voivodeship of Małopolska, Jan Parcer and Bogdan Wasztyl – the ChSRO, Henryk Łagodzki – the Association of Warsaw Insurgents of 1944, Janka Burianova – the Consul – General of the Republic of Slovakia, the representatives of Josef Byrtus, JUDr. Ing – the Consul – General of the Czech Republic, Jerzy Wróblewski – the Director of the State Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Józef Kała – the Councillor of Oświęcim, Piotr Kućka – the Chairman of the Municipal Council of Oświęcim, Witold Figiel – the Chairman of the Commission of Education, Culture, Sports and Recreation of the Municipal Council of Oświęcim, Gerard Madej – the Associate Mayor of the Town of Oświęcim, Waldemar Tański – the Head of the Department of the Development and Promotion of the Town Hall of Oświęcim, Katarzyna Kwiecień – the press spokeswoman of the Town Hall of Oświęcim. All the people present at the meeting supported the idea of building the Mound of Remembrance and Reconciliation.

The written support of the initiative has been sent by a lot of personages who entered the Honorary Committee of Building the Mound of Remembrance and Reconciliation or The List of Support.