The dominant element symbolizes the crematorium's chimney. The overall sculpture is a reference to sarcophagi and tombs. The inscription on the monument is in 22 languages " For ever let this place by a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews, from various countries of Europe, Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945."