Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the Impact of the 70th Anniversary

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum reports that the January commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz were attended by nearly 300 former prisoners from all over the world and 52 delegations representing states and supranational organizations. Direct broadcast on 250 television stations was watched by over half a billion people while news articles devoted to the anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Holocaust were read by over 1 billion people.

In 2015, 1.72 million people visited Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum– the most ever in a single year. Over 11,000 people visited the site to participate in seminars, conferences or educational programs and over 200 professional film crews worked on documentaries at the camp in 2015.

The museum also launched a new online booking system to accommodate the increase in visitors.

On January 27, 2016, the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the museum has planned a commemoration centered on the theme of “returns” – what the survivors did after their liberation and how they were able to lead productive, meaningful lives after the Holocaust. The main commemorative ceremony will be held in the so-called “sauna” building at Auschwitz II-Birkenau followed by a prayer and tribute at the Memorial of the Victims, also at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

Based on the global media coverage of the 70th anniversary and subsequent rise in attendance at the site over the year, the museum leadership felt that Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum seized the opportunity and conveyed the messages of the former prisoners to a worldwide audience.