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Auschwitz

The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was the main site for the extermination of Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust. It was liberated on January 27, 1945.

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All Content on this topic

Film still showing children and adults, all dressed in white, playing in and around a pool in a garden in front of a gray wall, behind which stand a large gray building and a watchtower.

Film still showing children and adults, all dressed in white, playing in and around a pool in a garden in front of a gray wall, behind which stand a large gray building and a watchtower.

When the Holocaust is just beyond the garden wall

The Oscar-winning "The Zone of Interest," about Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höss, takes the unspeakable to a new level.

Barbed wire between the brick buildings of Auschwitz 1 camp

Barbed wire between the brick buildings of Auschwitz 1 camp

Auschwitz to honor Yugoslav Holocaust victims

A previous commemoration of Yugoslav victims of the Holocaust at Auschwitz was abandoned when the country splintered.

Visitors looking at photos exhibhited on a wall in Auschwitz-Birkenau

Visitors looking at photos exhibhited on a wall in Auschwitz-Birkenau

What is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day?

January 27 is a global day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust.

Polen | Schüler aus Kerpen in der Gedenkstätte Auschwitz-Birkenau (hell)

Polen | Schüler aus Kerpen in der Gedenkstätte Auschwitz-Birkenau (hell)

Auschwitz visit expands students' Holocaust understanding

Almost 80 years have passed since the end of the Holocaust. How can the memories of survivors and witnesses live on?

Zofia and Franciszek Bojanczyk stand smiling in front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, Poland. Zofia (left) is wrapped up in a scarf and wears a red woolly hat. Her husband, Franciszek (right) wears a blue woolly bobble hat and a paper narcissus that resembles a yellow star on his coat

Zofia and Franciszek Bojanczyk stand smiling in front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, Poland. Zofia (left) is wrapped up in a scarf and wears a red woolly hat. Her husband, Franciszek (right) wears a blue woolly bobble hat and a paper narcissus that resembles a yellow star on his coat

In Poland, young people explore their Jewish roots

About 20,000 people in Poland have Jewish roots. One young couple wants to keep its Jewish family history alive.

Former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin speaks into a DW microphone in Auschwitz

Former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin speaks into a DW microphone in Auschwitz

Holocaust remembrance vital as antisemitism rises in Europe

Nearly eight decades after the end of World War II, antisemitism in Europe is on the rise again.

A railway and the entrance to Auschwitz

A railway and the entrance to Auschwitz

Polish government slammed for 'instrumentalizing' Holocaust

The ruling PiS party has released a video featuring images of Nazi death camps, in a campaign move that could backfire.

International March Of The Living

International March Of The Living

Israel marks national Holocaust Remembrance Day

Wailing sirens at 10 a.m. local brought Israel to a standstill as victims of the Holocaust were commemorated.

Young people wearing the Israeli flag over their shoulders while they walk through the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

Young people wearing the Israeli flag over their shoulders while they walk through the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

March of the Living: Remembrance in Auschwitz

The March of the Living is an annual event recalling victims and survivors of the Holocaust, held at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter's gift to Berlin now on show

Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie museum presents 100 works by Gerhard Richter, on long-term loan from his art foundation.

A surveillance tower at former Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz- Birkenau

A surveillance tower at former Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz- Birkenau

Holocaust remembrance ceremony at Auschwitz death camp

Holocaust survivors attending the solemn ceremony 78 years after Soviet forces entered the camp.

People wearing virtual reality headsets watch the film "Triumph of the Spirit"

People wearing virtual reality headsets watch the film "Triumph of the Spirit"

Virtual Holocaust remembrance

Three filmmakers have found a powerful way to keep memories of the Holocaust alive as a warning to future generations.

A group of people walk in front of the main gates of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz Birkenau

A group of people walk in front of the main gates of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz Birkenau

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2023 on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Fokus_Lettland russische Propaganda

Fokus_Lettland russische Propaganda

Focus on Europe – Spotlight on People

Russia tries to win over Latvia's Russian-speaking minority.

Abbildung von Anita Lasker-Wallfisch

Abbildung von Anita Lasker-Wallfisch

Music under the swastika

Why was classical music so important to Hitler and Goebbels?

Tourists at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

Tourists at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

Holocaust remembrance and Germany's colonial past

Germany is keen to take responsibility for its Nazi past, but does Holocaust remembrance overshadow colonial crimes?

Zilli Schmidt

Zilli Schmidt

Noted Sinti Holocaust survivor Zilli Schmidt dies

Zilli Schmidt, who survived Nazi death camps to go on to fight against racism and injustice, has died aged 98.

Piece of luggage and shoe from Holocaust victim

Piece of luggage and shoe from Holocaust victim

Saving Holocaust artifacts for the future

More than 200,000 children were killed at Auschwitz. A project aims to preserve the haunting evidence they left behind.

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Memories of children in Auschwitz

DW's Teri Schultz tells about a new project to preserve memories of the children killed in Auschwitz.

Holocaust survivor Arie Pinsker points to shoes at the Auschwitz memorial

Holocaust survivor Arie Pinsker points to shoes at the Auschwitz memorial

Auschwitz: Saving the soles of lives lost

New efforts have been launched to preserve the shoes of thousands of the youngest Holocaust victims.

DW Podcast | Inside Europe | provisorisch f ROAD

DW Podcast | Inside Europe | provisorisch f ROAD

Inside Europe 29.09.2022

The psychology of resistance in Russia, the politics of remembrance in Poland and the rule of law in Hungary. Also: Ukrainian environmentalist Svitlana Romanko responds to the North Stream gas leaks, Turkey’s recycling industry and the people it exploits, why the Danube is no longer blue and the new fossil fuel registry revolutionising carbon accountability.

Arnold Schwarzenegger tours former Auschwitz death camp with Simon Bergson

Arnold Schwarzenegger tours former Auschwitz death camp with Simon Bergson

Schwarzenegger visits Auschwitz to fight hate

Austria-born actor Arnold Schwarzenegger says the story of what happened at the Nazi death camp "has to stay alive."

Olaf Scholz and Mahmud Abbas in Berlin

Olaf Scholz and Mahmud Abbas in Berlin

Scholz reaction to Abbas' Holocaust remarks draws criticism

The International Auschwitz Committee and the Central Council of Jews have blasted Scholz over his initial response.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with Shoah Memorial exhibition curator Jacques Fredj and French historian Serge Klarsfeld during a visit of the newly inaugurated Shoah memorial at the former Pithiviers' train station

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with Shoah Memorial exhibition curator Jacques Fredj and French historian Serge Klarsfeld during a visit of the newly inaugurated Shoah memorial at the former Pithiviers' train station

France remembers Paris mass round-up of Jews, 80 years on

Over two days in July 1942, French police rounded up 13,000 people for deportation to Auschwitz.

Ursula Haverbeck at a Berlin courthouse in March 2022

Ursula Haverbeck at a Berlin courthouse in March 2022

Germany: 93-year-old Holocaust denier sent back to jail

The so-called "Nazi Grandma," Ursula Haverbeck has been handed another prison sentence.

Warsaw

Warsaw

Exploring Eastern Europe: Poland

We look at what the country has to offer.

DW Arts.21 (Sendungslogo Kultur.21 englisch)

DW Arts.21 (Sendungslogo Kultur.21 englisch)

From Klezmer to Rap – the Power of Jewish Music

Persecuted in Nazi Germany and later forgotten. Encounters with Jewish musicians, past and present.

Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher speaks during the annual ceremony in memory of Holocaust victims

Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher speaks during the annual ceremony in memory of Holocaust victims

Germany marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

A special ceremony in parliament included tributes to victims and witness testimony.

Inge Auerbacher hugs Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Inge Auerbacher hugs Frank-Walter Steinmeier

German Bundestag commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day

Germany’s Bundestag has been remembering the victims of the Nazi regime who died in the Holocaust.

A guard tower at Auschwitz-Birkenau

A guard tower at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Auschwitz's harrowing history

On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army liberated the prisoners in Auschwitz. What they found was unfathomable.

Pinchas Goldschmidt

Pinchas Goldschmidt

Rabbi Goldschmidt: Auschwitz must 'never happen again'

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, speaks with DW about his family's fate.

Lily Ebert talks to a young boy

Lily Ebert talks to a young boy

'Babies are the best revenge against the Nazis'

Ninety-eight-year-old Lily Ebert never thought she would escape Auschwitz, marry and have 35 great-grandchildren.

DW News | Auschwitzüberlebende auf TikTok

DW News | Auschwitzüberlebende auf TikTok

TikTok star, 97, shares Auschwitz experience

Lily Ebert has over a million followers on TikTok for her videos about surviving the Holocaust.

The entrance to Birkenau

The entrance to Birkenau

Israeli court halts auction of Auschwitz branding kit

The Tel Aviv district court has issued an injunction stopping the sale of a branding kit used at Auschwitz.

Adolf Hitler waves to crowd

Adolf Hitler waves to crowd

Austria faces up to Nazi past

Austria has departed from its long-held victim myth in a new exhibition at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

Auschwitz

Auschwitz

Antisemitic graffiti found at Auschwitz-Birkenau

The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum said the graffiti included "denial slogans" written in English and German.

An archive photo of Marta Fuchs, the head seamstress at the "Obere Nähstube"

An archive photo of Marta Fuchs, the head seamstress at the "Obere Nähstube"

The dressmakers of Auschwitz

Reading about a 'tailoring studio' in Auschwitz, Lucy Adlington discovered death camp inmates employed as dressmakers.

The German-Sinti Bamberger family sitting for a photo, Margarethe sits in the front row on the left

The German-Sinti Bamberger family sitting for a photo, Margarethe sits in the front row on the left

Europe remembers Sinti, Roma murdered in WWII

On August 2, 1944, 4,300 Sinti and Roma were killed in the gas chambers of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

Italien Veneding | Tourismus

Italien Veneding | Tourismus

UNESCO World Heritage Sites under threat

The World Heritage Committee continually reviews whether certain sites deserve to have the title, as some fail the test.

Black--and-white photo of Esther Bejarano

Black--and-white photo of Esther Bejarano

Holocaust survivor Esther Bejarano dies at 96

Forced to perform in the Auschwitz girls' orchestra as a teenager, Esther Bejarano never stopped loving music.

Lit candelabrum

Lit candelabrum

People, pictures, places: German Jews across the centuries

An exhibition in Cologne about 1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany showcases personal stories.

David Dushman

David Dushman

Last Auschwitz liberator David Dushman dies

In January 1945, Red Army tank driver David Dushman saw Auschwitz survivors stagger out of the Nazi concentration camp.

Roman Kent

Roman Kent

Holocaust survivor Roman Kent dies aged 92

Roman Kent dedicated his life to fighting against antisemitism and providing reparations for Jewish survivors.

Interior of Dresden Barracks, the largest and most damaged building in the Main Fortress of Theresienstadt

Interior of Dresden Barracks, the largest and most damaged building in the Main Fortress of Theresienstadt

Holocaust remembrance site in Terezin is crumbling

Under the Nazis, Terezin was a Jewish ghetto. Today, there is much to be done to keep the memory of the town alive.

Zilli Schmidt

Zilli Schmidt

Auschwitz survivor lives in fear of new Nazis

Zilli Schmidt has a mission to tell the world what was done to the Romani people by the Nazi regime.

A screenshot from the 2021 virtual March of the Living promo video shows a doctor carrying the Israeli flag in front of a digitalized Auschwitz-Birkenau gate

A screenshot from the 2021 virtual March of the Living promo video shows a doctor carrying the Israeli flag in front of a digitalized Auschwitz-Birkenau gate

2021 MOTL Holocaust ceremony goes virtual

The pandemic forced the 2021 March of the Living Holocaust commemoration online. It has also given it a special focus.

Gerhard Richter stands in front of his Birkenau series paintings in a museum

Gerhard Richter stands in front of his Birkenau series paintings in a museum

100 Gerhard Richter works loaned to Berlin

Top-selling German artist Gerhard Richter loans his "Birkenau" series to a Berlin museum.

Rembert Boese

Rembert Boese

Shining a light on forgotten Auschwitz victims

Nazi prisoners were marched past Rembert Boese's home in 1945. Today, he wants the victims to be remembered properly.

Entrance to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Entrance to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Ex-Nazi charged in 3,518 counts of accessory to murder

A 100-year-old German man stands accused for his role as a guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

A flower is seen next to the word 'Auschwitz' at a memorial on a platform at the Berlin-Grunewald train station

A flower is seen next to the word 'Auschwitz' at a memorial on a platform at the Berlin-Grunewald train station

Auschwitz survivors urge world: 'Do not let us down'

Holocaust survivors and officials marked the 76th liberation of Auschwitz with a somber ceremony online.