Every design for Oświęcim

To most of the world, Oświęcim is known by its German name, Auschwitz, and for the Nazi concentration camp built in its former barracks, now the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town itself is far older. It sits in the Oświęcim Basin where the Soła meets the Vistula, between the Carpathian Foothills and the Silesian Highlands, and it was a castellan seat in the 12th century and later the capital of its own duchy.

Living here means carrying both stories at once. There is the weight of memory at the Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau, and there is ordinary life: the Rynek Główny in the old town east of the Soła, the castle, the ponds and Lake Kruki, and the pride in Unia Oświęcim, one of Poland's most accomplished ice hockey teams. Salt from Wieliczka once passed through here on the trade route from east to west.

For those who live here, coming home means crossing the Soła into the old town, where the castle and the market square have stood for centuries.