Best Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial Museum Vacation Packages

The memorial and museum contains two parts: Auschwitz I and the larger Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Established in 1940 they were originally used by the Germans to hold Polish political prisoners when other facilities became overcrowded. In the spring of 1942, the Nazis began using it as a concentration camp to exterminate Polish and Jewish people. Located in the suburbs of Oswiecim, the memorial and museum require at least three hours to tour properly. This includes the Death Wall, barracks and gas chambers. Before Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945, more than 1,100,000 people died here.