News

Information package for the media for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Due to the upcoming 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp and the great interest from the global media the Auschwitz Memorial has prepared, for the convenience of journalists, a set of basic, although not always universally known facts regarding Auschwitz. They are to help prepare information materials and to avoid discrediting slip-ups, such as using the term “Polish death camps”.

Auschwitz, the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp, is the most recognizable symbol of the Holocaust and place of genocide in the world. Never, and in no other camp or extermination center did the SS murder such a great number of Jews from nearly all the Nazi occupied Europe. However, many people do not know that Poles constituted nearly 40% of the prisoners registered in the camp and that those incarcerated and murdered there included also: the Roma, Soviet POWs and prisoners of over twenty nationalities. Only experts will know the role Auschwitz was to play in the Nazi settlement plans and Germanising Eastern Europe, which – aside from exterminating the Jews – posited also the destruction of the majority of the Slavic population. 

The package comprises both historical information and data concerning today's activities of the Auschwitz Memorial. The topics prepared for the journalists include: Nazi racist premises and plans of political dominance and demographic changes in Eastern Europe, the realization of the extermination policy in Auschwitz, the number of victims and their nationality, Auschwitz significance for the history of Europe, the unique nature of the Auschwitz Museum and Memorial, sources of its financing and the number of visitors.  

The information package will be handed out to all the journalists accredited to the anniversary commemoration.

All available information can be found at the Auschwitz Museum's website, specifically dedicated to the anniversary commemoration: 70.auschwitz.org.