Oświęcim

Introducing Oświęcim

Oświęcim (osh-fyen-cheem) is a quiet, medium-sized industrial town on the border between Silesia and Małopolska, about 30km southeast of Katowice and about 40km west of Kraków. The Polish name may be unfamiliar to most foreigners, but the German one is not. This is Auschwitz, the scene of the largest attempt at genocide in human history and the world’s largest cemetery.

The Auschwitz extermination camp was established in April 1940 by the Germans in the prewar Polish army barracks on the outskirts of Oświęcim. Auschwitz was origin­ally intended for Polish political prisoners, but the camp was ‘repurposed’ as a dedicated centre for the wholesale extermination of the Jews of Europe. For this purpose, the much larger camp at Birkenau (Brzezinka), also referred to as Auschwitz II, was built 2km west of the original site in 1941 and 1942, followed by another one in Monowitz (Monowice), several kilometres to the west.

It is now estimated that in total this death factory eliminated some 1.6 million people of 27 nationalities, including 1.1 million Jews, 150, 000 Poles and 23, 000 Roma.

The name Auschwitz often describes the whole Auschwitz-Birkenau complex. In 2007, its Unesco world heritage listing was changed from ‘Auschwitz Concentration Camp’ to ‘Auschwitz-Birkenau: German Nazi Concentration & Extermination Camp (1940–45) ’. Both Auschwitz and Birkenau are open to the public as the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau (Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau; 033 843 2022; www.auschwitz.org.pl; ul Więźniów Oświęcimia 20; donation requested; 8am-7pm Jun-Aug, 8am-6pm May & Sep, 8am-5pm Apr & Oct, 8am-4pm Mar & Nov, 8am-3pm Dec-Feb). The museum’s visitors centre is at the entrance to the Auschwitz site.

There’s also a tourist office (033 843 0091; www.cit.oswiecim.neostrada.pl; ul Leszczyńskiej 12; 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm Sat & Sun Apr-Sep, 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-3pm Sat & Sun Oct-Mar) near the Auschwitz site.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009