A memorial to the victims of the Holocaust
Auschwitz-Birkenau, near the town of Oświęcim, was the largest of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camps, where more than a million people, most of them Jews, were murdered. Today it is a memorial and museum and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visits cover both Auschwitz I, with its barracks and exhibitions, and the vast site of Birkenau. Guided tours are the best way to understand it; book ahead and allow most of a day.