Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Oświęcim is located in the place of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp. This place has a cruel and extremely sad history. The museum was opened in 1947 and shows the arrangement of the camp, souvenirs after captives and also the archives. The iniciators of this project were former prisoners of the camp.

The area of the concentration camp in Oświęcim is divided into two parts: Auschwitz I Stammlager and Auschwitz II Birkenau. It consists of over 150 buildings, 300 ruins of various constructions, original routes, ramp, and fencing. The archival records, photographies and belongings of prisoners such as shoes, suitcases and household items presented at the exhibitions tell the moving story about captives.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is the most often visited museum in Poland. In 2016 it was visited by over 2 million guests of which almost half were from abroad.