Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial closed for two weeks due to coronavirus
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial will be closed to all visitors for two weeks to help contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the museum said in a March 12 statement.
The “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate at Auschwitz with the bitter irony of the German words: “Work Will Set You Free.” Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The decision follows Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s announcement on Wednesday that all Polish schools, universities, museums and cinemas close until March 25.
It was announced last week that March of the Living, the largest annual international Holocaust-education program that takes groups to visit the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp in Poland and then moves on to Israel, will be postponed for the first time in its 32-year history because of fears of the virus.
As of Friday, Poland had 64 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
JNS
