A record 1.4 million people visited the memorial site at the former death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2011.

The figure released yesterday underlines how the death and labour complex that Nazi Germany built in occupied southern Poland during World War II has become one of Europe’s most visited Holocaust remembrance sites.

While the large number of visitors is seen as important for Holocaust education, mass tourism there is also adding strain to the barracks and other structures.

Many are already in very poor condition and the officials overseeing the site are struggling to preserve what they can.

The museum and memorial site said most of the visitors last year were from Poland, but other nations represented in large numbers are Britain, Italy, Israel, Germany, France and the United States.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.