About 300 Auschwitz survivors have gathered at the site of the former Nazi death camp to mark the 70th anniversary of its liberation, BBC News reports.

The commemoration will be held at the site in southern Poland where 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed between 1940 and 1945. It is expected to be the last major anniversary event that survivors are able to attend in numbers.

Heads of state and representatives from many wartime Allies will be present.

Events include the laying of a wreath, a church service, and the lighting of candles at a memorial in the former death camp of Birkenau, which was part of the Auschwitz complex.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the Red Army of the Soviet Union on Jan 27, 1945.