All news

Concentration camp survivors say world should remember events in Auschwitz-Birkenau

WARSAW, January 28, 0:52 /ITAR-TASS/. Several hundred delegates from various countries, MPs, clergymen, veterans and concentration camp survivors took part in events devoted to the 69th anniversary of the liberation of one of the biggest Nazi death camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau near the Polish city of Oswiecim.

“Now, 69 years since we left this inferno called Oswiecim we are here again, now as proud citizens of the new Jewish state that started with the remnants of the European Jewry. And we are proud to be here,” said Noah Kliger, former inmate of the camp, who came from Israel as one of 20 witnesses of what took place in Auschwitz-Birkenau seven decades ago. 

Concentration camp survivor Zofia Posmysz has said at the remembrance ceremony she makes a point of attending every function in the Auschwitz memorial museum. “The museum reminds one of unparalleled martyrdom and unparalleled crime,” she said. It must not disappear. The museum’s authenticity should be preserved so that humanity should never forget about this tragedy of the 20th century, she said.

Deputy Marshal of the Polish Sejm Cezary Grabarczyk said that soldiers of the 60th army of the First Ukrainian Front who arrived at the camp 69 years were appalled at the scale of what they witnessed in Oswiecim. “After the camp’s liberation the world faced the question of what can be done with this horrible legacy and how to pay homage to the memory of victims,” Grabarczyk said. “The answer is to strive to change man, society, governments and states so that the repetition of this should be inconceivable,” he said.

A large delegation of Israeli parliament, the Knesset, arrived for the anniversary this year. A representative of the Israeli parliament said that “Oswiecim will always be a black hole about to engulf the entire human history.” “We must remember to rely on our own resources and build a peaceful state. We must ensure the future full of hope for our children and for the succeeding generations,” he said.

Upon the conclusion of the commemoration functions an international interparliamentary meeting is arranged in Krakow in the evening at which deputies of the Knesset will meet with MPs from Poland, Czech Republic, Greece, France, Estonia, Lithuania, Italy, Germany, Spain and Hungary.