Record 1.5 million visitors to Auschwitz museum in 2014

An aerial shot of the Auschwitz museum.

WARSAW — More than 1.5 million people visited the former Auschwitz concentration camp in 2014, setting a record.

It was the highest attendance ever at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial in Poland, according to its museum.

“The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial has become the world’s symbol of the Holocaust and the crimes of World War II,”  said Dr. Piotr Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz Memorial. “Without the reference to the history of this place, it would be hard for new generations to understand our reality and challenges of the contemporary world.”

The most visitors came from Poland, with 398,000, followed by Great Britain at 199,000 and the United States at 92,000. Germany and Israel had the fifth and sixth highest totals, 75,000 and 62,000, respectively.

Over 10,000 people from around the world participated in educational projects, seminars, conferences or study visits at Auschwitz in 2014, according to the museum.