The Auschwitz Memorial is appealing for donations after it was forced to close to visitors as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, putting its financial situation under severe strain.
"We are calling for financial assistance from all those who consider it necessary to preserve memory," the museum said in a statement published on its official website.
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The Memorial preserves the Auschwitz death camp set up on Polish soil by Nazi Germany during World War Two. More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, perished in gas chambers at the camp or from starvation, cold and disease.
The Memorial has been closed to visitors since March 12. Last year it was visited by around 2.3 million people. It hopes to re-open at the beginning of July.
"In these difficult moments, we cannot squander our previous achievements or slow down our work to maintain and build remembrance that is the only remedy for future years," the museum's Director Piotr Cywinski said in a statement.
"The 2020 budget has collapsed," he said, despite "special support" from the Polish culture ministry and the Auschwitz-Birkenau International Foundation, which will help maintain jobs and continue maintenance work to preserve the site.
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But lost revenues from ticket sales means there is no funding for the creation of new exhibitions, education and publishing, his statement added.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial is particularly active on social networks, with over 330,000 followers on Facebook and more than a million on Twitter.
Donations can be made via donate.auschwitz.org.
