World leaders are gathered in Poland to observe Holocaust Memorial Day and commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britain’s King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President António Costa, and numerous other dignitaries are the guest of the event holding at the site of the camp established by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during the Second World War. Israel will be represented by Education Minister Yoav Kisch.
All remaining survivors of Auschwitz have been invited to the commemorations and are allowed to bring one companion for support.
Spokesperson for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial, Pawel Sawicki, stated that the event would forgo political speeches, focusing instead on hearing directly from the survivors. He added that this is the last milestone anniversary where they can have a group of survivors visibly present at the site. Sawicki went on to say In ten years, the visible presence of survivors will no longer be possible, and it was important to listen to their voices, their testimonies, and their personal stories. This is of immense importance in shaping the memory of Auschwitz.”
The main commemoration will begin at 15:00 GMT in a tent erected over the gate to the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. A freight train car, symbolising the deportations, will be displayed in front of the gate as part of the memorial.
More than 1.1 million people, predominantly Jews, perished at Auschwitz, either in gas chambers or from starvation, exposure, and disease. Of Poland’s pre-war Jewish population of 3.2 million, over 3 million were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for nearly half of all Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically exterminated approximately six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, leaving a lasting scar on humanity.
