Auschwitz Birkenau was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
The site in southern Poland preserves the remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau are the best-known parts, while the wider complex included numerous subcamps and facilities. The site is a place of remembrance and evidence of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution.
UNESCO uses the official name “Auschwitz Birkenau, German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945).” The wording identifies the perpetrators and the historical period rather than treating the camp as an ordinary military or architectural monument.
The site was inscribed in 1979, making it one of the earliest World Heritage listings. Visitors often confuse the date of inscription with the camp's liberation, which occurred on 27 January 1945. That date is commemorated internationally as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The museum and memorial preserve buildings, ruins, objects, and documentary evidence for education and remembrance.