The UN General Assembly is due to discuss issues related to the Holocaust during a special one-day session on 27 January.
At Auschwitz, Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz joined Israel's ambassador to Poland, local leaders of the Jewish community, and survivors of the death camp to mark the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp.
Marcinkiewicz pledged government assistance for the Holocaust Center in Oswiecim, the Polish name for Auschwitz, saying "we owe this to you, the prisoners, but also to our own children."
An estimated 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz. Most of those who died were Jews. Other victims included political opponents of the Nazis, homosexuals, Poles, Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war.
An estimated six million Jews died in the Holocaust.
The commemoration comes just three days after Iran said it would follow through with plans to organize a conference on what it terms the "scientific evidence" for the Holocaust.
Several European leaders used the occasion to reject recent remarks by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who has denied the Holocaust, calling it a "myth."
(compiled from agency reports)