What does Auschwitz represent in the collective consciousness of those who did not experience the Holocaust?

Auschwitz is separate. Temporally and spatially. It is a past metamorphosed into a perpetual present, a place and a non-place. A wound that does not heal. There is no other place on earth where humans can expose themselves to the extremes that humanity itself has engendered. Auschwitz will never let the living rest in peace.
The English translation of the book (unpublished) is available, and fully funded.