Date of inscription: 1979
Criterion: (6)
Oświęcim County, Lesser Poland (Małopolska)
Location: N50 4 0 E19 21 0
Ref.: 31

Auschwitz is not only a memorial and a historical site. As a symbol, it is also an essential part of our civilization. The word "Auschwitz" has become a symbol, warning and a synonym for the decomposition of the human value system by ideology of hatred. With the passing of the last eyewitnesses, the role of the authenticity and integral nature of the memorial site is growing.

Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp of the GermanThird Reich, claimed the most victims, and was the only concentration camp that functioned simultaneously as a centre for systematic extermination in gas chambers. It symbolizes the monstrous reality of the system of camps and extermination centers created by Nazi Germany.

Four hundred thousand people were registered in the camp during its almost five years of operation with Jews and Poles in the majority as well as Roma and Sinti, Soviet POWs, and others. This number does not, however, include the majority of the Jews, mostly children and the elderly, who were murdered in the gas chambers immediately after arrival selections made by SS doctors, without ever being entered in the camp records. It is estimated today that there were some 900,000 such victims, while the total number of victims of Auschwitz is estimated at some 1,100,000 people.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum arose on the former grounds of the camp in 1947 through the initiative of some of its Survivors. Its aim is to preserve the original remains of the camp, commemorate the victims, and carry out research and education. The Auschwitz Museum is, alongside the Yad Vashem in Israel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the best known and preeminent institution in the world that deals with the subject.

Through Poland's initiative it was entered on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1979 on the condition that it be the only camp on the list and that it symbolise other similar sites. In 2007 the title of the inscription became "Auschwitz-Birkenau. German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)".

We need to make sure that future generations will have a possibility to see the authentic space which is not only a living witness of one of the biggest crimes in the history of mankind but also a place which has a fundamental meaning for the entire human civilization. In Auschwitz we can fully confront and address the most important questions about: mankind, society, the poisonous fruit of antisemitism, racial hatred and contempt towards others, as well as reflect on our contemporary moral responsibility for the world.

(see the original text at www.unesco.org )