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Auschwitz is falling into ruins and needs international funding to be kept open, the Polish authorities responsible for maintaining the Nazi death camp said yesterday.

Spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt said: 'Without outside help, Poland could have trouble retaining Auschwitz as a memorial site.'

An appeal has gone out, particularly to the EU, to 'share the burden' in keeping the site of the Birkenau extermination centre --which is separate from the rest of the complex - open as a place of homage and remembrance.



Up to 1.5million Jews were murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau, near Krakow, before it was liberated by the Russians in January 1945.

Piotr Cywinski, the director of the memorial, £50million was needed for repairs, while another two is earned from the sales of books, fees for tours and parking.

Cywinski said that the international community, particularly the EU, should “share the burden” of keeping up the memorial.

Germany gave £5 million in the 1990s to upgrade some barracks and install heating in some rooms.

But the passage of time has taken its toll on what was the prime killing centre for the Nazis in WW2.

Between 1.2 and 1.5 European, Balkan and Russian Jews were murdered in the gas chambers of the Birkenau complex, killed by a gas called Zyklon B.

After the war, a monument and museum was built on the site of the camps.

Interest in the monuments has grown in recent years with a record 1.2 million people visiting the museum last year.



Unlike other extermination centres, Auschwitz, situated near Krakow, was also a slave labour centre with inmates not “selected” for death put to work in factories producing goods for the German war effort.

When the Russians liberated it in January 1945 they discovered mountains of valuables, human hair, gold teeth, spectacles and thousands and thousands of children's dolls – all taken from those who were murdered there.

Since the fall of Communism it has become a special place of pilgrimage for people from all lands, but particularly Jews from Israel.

There are plenty of Holocaust museums around so why don't they just bulldoze Auschwitz and build some kind of amusement park on the site, and NO I'm not being disrespectful, it's just that that wretched patch of ground has seen enough misery in its time so what could be better than to turn it into a place of happiness full of the laughter of children to wash away the bad vibes of the past?

Although I have not been to Auschwitz I have been to other camp sites and the feeling of despair and evil hangs over the place even today. My most vivid recollection was that not even the birds sing in such places.

No, they should stay as they are, for they will never be fit for anything else again. At least not in our life times.

PoorOldSpike Wrote:There are plenty of Holocaust museums around so why don't they just bulldoze Auschwitz and build some kind of amusement park on the site, and NO I'm not being disrespectful, it's just that that wretched patch of ground has seen enough misery in its time so what could be better than to turn it into a place of happiness full of the laughter of children to wash away the bad vibes of the past?

I am sorry but have you been to Auschwitz ? I was there last easter and I can tell you it's an incrediable place, it should never ever be allowed to fall into disrepair. I walked through a gas chamber in which 100,000's of people were killed and then through into the crem where they were disposed of and the feeling you get inside is just overwhelming. Everybody should make a point of going to this place sometime in their lifetime. I also saw the factory of Oscar Shindler, I wasn't able to get inside as it was being renovated, but we did walk around the old Jewish getto quarter it was a very moving experiance. The Poles also do not charge for entry into Auschwitz which did surprise me but I see that as a good thing, this is why they need ALL our support.

All I know is that if i'd been an inmate of Auschwitz I'd have hoped that one day the wretched place would be bulldozed flat and obliterated and wiped off the face of the earth, and the site turned into something like a children's playground rather than be left standing..