Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau

Oświęcim, Poland, Germany

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The Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oświęcim, Poland (near the German border), preserves the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex from World War II, where over 1.1 million people—mostly Jews, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet POWs, and others—were murdered between 1940 and 1945 through gassing, starvation, disease, and executions. Established by Nazi Germany in occupied Polish territory, it comprised Auschwitz I (main camp with "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (extermination site with gas chambers and crematoria), and Auschwitz III-Monowitz (labor camp), plus subcamps; Soviet forces liberated it on January 27, 1945, finding 7,000 survivors amid ruins the Nazis tried to destroy. Founded as a state museum in 1947 by Polish authorities and former prisoners, it spans 200 hectares as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, displaying authentic barracks, artifacts like suitcases and shoes, and memorials to educate on the Holocaust's horrors, drawing over two million visitors annually.