Auschwitz is certainly special and there's been much reviewed about it already that I might not feel I can add much "new". When I visited in 2016 there were guided tours only and when I arrived late I was allowed to enter on my own in order to find the group. Naturally that was quite hard because listening to the audio doesn't indicate where the group is suddenly located and only the quality will give you an idea how close you are. I eventually found the group and the reason I mention this is because I wonder if I want to have the group. Sure, you see everything and get lots of info, and most of it is important but I also found it very depressing to listen to the guide. One of the people in the group then asked out of the blue: "how can you do this kind of tour every day?" and "aren't you too sad to be here all the time?" She gave a good response but it made me think.

If I were here without a guide it would still be depressing as hell but it would just give me an overall "oh these were shoes from the workers" idea. I think I don't need the deeper sadness attached with the private stories the guide can relay to us visitors. I know what the site stands for and I didn't come here to get the satisfaction to know it better.

So another issue is that the site is from a recent war and these days none of these sites would get inscribed. That doesn't mean Auschwitz will get removed but I think it shouldn't be a special case just because it was "so evil", "extremely antisemitic" or on an epic scale. It also doesn't mean Auschwitz was the "best" concentration camp from the pick with some other guests saying Dochau was a better example of one of these camps - not that I had visited that. I think after Auschwitz one has enough of an insight into the evil Nazi legacy and it was good to see what movies and TV shows depict, realizing that it was indeed right here and it wasn't too long ago. In the end it was more of a history lesson than a sightseeing trip. I only took 10 pictures of the entire camp with the one above and the "Arbeit Macht Frei" being the highlights because it doesn't feel like a place I want to have pictures of for my collection.

I wonder why I had rated it so high when I visited but I still have good memories of it, and it is an important site even if it doesn't match to most of what is on the world heritage list. There are slave related places but most of the listed sites are positive that inspired, progressed humanity. I don't actually feel the horror from Auschwitz does that to me. Perhaps because I'm educated well enough and don't need to be fed the truth about what has happened. For me this isn't an eye opener but I can see that for many it will be. I also believe this will stay in their memory like it does for me.

In retrospective I find that it doesn't cover the entirety of the WWII crimes and atrocities but extending to other sites for the war doesn't seem to be an option. Having visited WWI memorials which seemed different and also grasp your emotions I would prefer those on the list but as previously said UNESCO is currently not inscribing any recent war related sites.