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During the war Oswiecim was under Nazi occupation, camp life seeped onto the streets of the town. Prisoners were everywhere, forced into public works. With the SS controlling every aspect of local life, ordinary townspeople also lived in fear. But many did all they could in secret to alleviate the suffering of the prisoners.

With 1.1m visitors a year Auschwitz-Birkenau camp should be an important part of the economy in Oswiecim but few visitors actually come to the town. Many of the people working there come from other parts of Poland. It's not an easy job, they live and work every day in the shadow of mass murder.

Roman Kwiatkowski is the leader of Poland's Romani community. He grew up in Oswiecim. It's often overlooked that 23,000 Romani were killed in Auschwitz. They lived in separate blocks called Zigeunerlager. But after the Holocaust, persecution of Romani didn't end.

Before the Holocaust, Oswiecim was 60% Jewish. Now there are no Jewish families living here. The Jewish Museum in the centre of town was set up to remember the towns rich Jewish history. And to remind people here how easily this could all happen again. It hosts training programmes on hate-crimes for Polish police.