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Witness / Attend in Oswiecim
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
A town in southern Poland about 65 kilometres west of Krakow, known in German as Auschwitz. It is the site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, now a state Memorial and Museum and a UNESCO World Heritage site preserving the largest of the Holocaust death camps.
No overall organizer. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum anchors the event; the rest belongs to the streets.
Dates & details verified against: The institution itself ↗
Why here
Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most important site of Holocaust memory in the world, the former Nazi German camp where more than a million people, the overwhelming majority of them Jews, were murdered. Preserved as a state Memorial and Museum and inscribed by UNESCO in 1979, it keeps the ground itself as evidence: the brick blocks and the Arbeit-macht-frei gate of Auschwitz I, and three kilometres away the vast expanse of Birkenau, its rail spur, wooden barracks and the ruins of the gas chambers. To walk it with a Museum guide-educator is to witness, not to sightsee. It is a place people come to out of duty and remembrance, and it asks for quiet, time and preparation rather than a quick stop between other things.
Best months
The Memorial is open year-round except 1 January, 25 December and Easter Sunday, with entrance hours that lengthen from mid-winter afternoons to long summer days. Entry is free but a timed entry card must be reserved in advance, and in the busy hours from mid-morning a licensed guide-educator is required. Allow about ninety minutes each for Auschwitz I and Birkenau. This is a place of mourning; dress and behave accordingly.
Getting there & around
Oswiecim is about ninety minutes west of Krakow by road or train, and most visitors come on a day trip. Reserve a free timed entry card in advance on visit.auschwitz.org, the only official booking channel, and book a guide-educator, offered in some twenty languages, at least a month ahead in high season. A shuttle links the Auschwitz I and Birkenau sites; luggage larger than a small bag must stay in the car.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (1)
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
OrganizerThe Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is the Polish state institution that preserves and manages the former Nazi German camp as a Memorial, Museum and UNESCO World Heritage site inscribed in 1979. Admission to the grounds is free, with timed entry cards reserved only through its official system at visit.auschwitz.org; the Museum works with no outside ticket agents. Only its own licensed guide-educators, trained across some twenty languages, may lead groups through Auschwitz I and Birkenau.