The number marked a 10-percent increase over 2023, but remained significantly below the pre-pandemic record of 2.32 million visitors in 2019.
The director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Piotr Cywiński, highlighted the profound impact of visiting the site.
"A visit to an authentic remembrance site such as Auschwitz cannot be compared to a visit to any other museum, including those exploring similar themes," he said.
"It should be a life-changing experience, and our mission is therefore to allow every visitor to experience their own rite of passage and reflect on one's sense of responsibility today," he added.
Paweł Sawicki of the museum's press office said that Poles accounted for 25 percent of the visitors last year, making them the largest national group.
Among foreign visitors, the most numerous were from Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany, he said.
Ninety percent of the visitors took part in guided tours led by the museum's team of 320 guides, who offer assistance in 20 languages, according to Sawicki.
Beyond physical visits, the museum’s digital presence saw significant engagement, with over 2.6 million followers across platforms and more than 750 million views of its posts, Sawicki said.
In 2024, the museum in the southern Polish city of Oświęcim expanded its online offerings with virtual tours, where guides narrate the story of Auschwitz through the "Auschwitz in Front of Your Eyes" platform.
On January 27, a group of Auschwitz survivors and high-ranking officials from more than 20 countries will attend a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation by the Soviet army.
More than 1.1 million people—primarily European Jews, along with Poles, Roma, Soviet POWs and others—were killed by the Germans at Auschwitz during World War II.
(mk/gs)
Source: PAP, Auschwitz Museum