Record Number of Visitors See Auschwitz in 2007
Only an hour and a half away from Krakow lies one of the most tragic and depressing monuments to the destructive nature of man: Auschwitz, or Oswiecim as it is known to Poles. While what happened at the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Bireknau concentration camps during the Second World War was an unprecedented tragedy, to forget those events would be a tragedy in itself. Luckily, more and more people are visiting the concentration camp and museum and learning the history of the events, as 2007 saw a record-breaking number of visitors.
1.22 million people visited the death camps in 2007 according to the museum's statistics. The majority of visitors come from abroad to see the museum, with the greatest numbers coming from the UK, the United States, and Germany. Of the 1.22 million visitors, 755,000 were foreigners. The number of foreign visitors to the camps has increased dramatically, both since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, and since cheap flights to Poland have become abundant, and it's expected that 2008 will bring even more visitors. In addition to the concentration camps themselves, Oswiecim is also home to the Auschwitz Jewish Centre, which tells the story of Polish Jews living in the area before and after the tragedy of the Second World War.