WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) The Auschwitz museum said on Monday that it plans to create, jointly with Israeli startup ApplFlyer, a program for virtual tours amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Auschwitz museum, the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Israeli company AppsFlyer today announced the creation of a joint program, with an aim o create technological solutions that support the educational value of excursions for visitors from all over the world," the museum said in a press release.
The decision comes just one day before the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
"The outcome of this collaboration will be innovative tools that will provide millions of people with access to education, including via a virtual tour. This will make the place of remembrance and its legacy available for everyone, including for those who would not otherwise have the opportunity to visit the museum," the press release read.
The memorial is currently closed for visitors for the first time in its history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum's doors will remain closed until at least January 31, according to its website. Last year, just half a million people visited the memorial, five times less than in 2019.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was opened by Nazis in 1940 and remained operational until the end of World War II. It was the largest concentration camp and saw around 1.4 million people killed before it was liberated by the Soviet Army in January 1945. The site of the former camp was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. It is now a symbol of the Holocaust. The camp's liberation day, January 27, was declared International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005 by the UN General Assembly.
