Miejsce Pamięci i Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau

What to expect

The Auschwitz Museum and Memorial in Oświęcim preserves the site of the largest German Nazi concentration and extermination camp. Around 1.1 million people were murdered here, the overwhelming majority of them Jews, alongside Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and prisoners of other nationalities. This is not a museum in the everyday sense of the word. It is a memorial: the authentic grounds, the barracks, the ruins of the gas chambers, and the belongings taken from the victims.

A visit has two parts. Auschwitz I, the former main camp, consists of brick blocks housing the exhibitions: documents, photographs and the personal possessions of those deported here. Auschwitz II-Birkenau, about three kilometres away, is a vast open site with the railway ramp, the remains of wooden barracks, and the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria. Allow at least ninety minutes for each part to take it in properly.

According to the museum, parts of the Birkenau site and the exhibition in Block 5 are temporarily closed to visitors. Check the official website for current notices before you travel.

Visiting in practice

Entry to the Memorial is free, but you must reserve a personalized entry pass in advance at visit.auschwitz.org. No passes are issued at the entrance. Guided tours with a museum educator carry a fee, last about 3.5 hours, and are strongly worth it for the context they provide; individual visitors can join a guided group or, in designated time slots, visit on their own with a reserved pass. Groups should book at least two months ahead. Bring an identity document matching the name on your pass.

Entry runs daily from 7:30, with the last admission shifting through the year: 14:00 in December, up to 19:00 from June to August. The Memorial is closed on 1 January, 25 December and Easter Sunday. Do not treat this as one stop among several in a day. With travel from Krakow it takes most of a day, and given the emotional weight of the site, combining it with other sightseeing the same day is simply not advisable.

Getting there

The Memorial is in Oświęcim, about 60 kilometres west of Krakow, at ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 55. Trains and buses run from Krakow to Oświęcim; the one-way journey usually takes between an hour and a half and two hours. By car, take the A4 motorway towards Katowice, then local roads to Oświęcim. A shuttle bus links Auschwitz I and Birkenau, and the distance between them can also be walked.

Nearby

The history of the occupation and the Holocaust in Krakow itself is documented at Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory and the Eagle Pharmacy, on the grounds of the former ghetto in Podgórze. For the context of pre-war Jewish life in the region, visit the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kazimierz.