WARSAW (EJP)---3 million people from all around the world have visited the Auschwitz Memorial in 2009, a record in the 62-year history of the museum.

According to Museum officials, the majority of visitors are young people—pupils and students. There were over 821,000, 120,000 more than in 2008.

The Auschwitz Memorial have been the most visited museum in Poland for a number of years.

"The importance of this place in the history of the world cannot be overestimated. It is difficult to understand the Europe today without a thorough knowledge of Auschwitz history. It is also difficult to understand our own contemporary responsibility, if we do not listen to the tragedy of the Holocaust and prisoners of the concentration camp. That is why I do appreciate the increase of the number of young visitors. The future of our world is in their hands," said Museum Director Piotr Cywiński.

"We must certainly notice the increase of the number of visitors from Poland—compared to 2008 it is over 140,000 more. There were also more visitors from Israel, Italy as well as from France, Norway and our southern neighbors from the Czech Republic and Slovakia," said Andrzej Kacorzyk, the head of the visitors services section.

"The statistics from non-European countries are also interesting. Probably due to the economic crisis and the depreciation of the dollar, we had less visitors from the US, but there is a constant growth of the number of visitors from Asia.," he added.