World marks Auschwitz liberation’s 80th anniv
Auschwitz was the largest of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and has become a symbol of the genocide of six million European Jews
Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP
Auschwitz was the largest of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and has become a symbol of the genocide of six million European Jews
Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP
Oswiecim, Poland (AFP) — The world marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Monday, with some of the few remaining survivors set to attend ceremonies at the site of the notorious Nazi death camp.
Auschwitz was the largest of the extermination camps and has become a symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million European Jews, one million of whom died at the site between 1940 and 1945, along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.
On Monday former inmates, along with Polish President Andrzej Duda, are expected to lay flowers at the sprawling camp’s Wall of Death in the morning.
Around 50 survivors are then expected at a commemoration from 1500 GMT outside the gates of Auschwitz II-Birkenau alongside dozens of leaders, including Britain’s King Charles III and French President Emmanuel Macron.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz are both expected, as well as Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch.
“This year we will focus on the survivors and their message,” Auschwitz Museum spokesman Pawel Sawicki told AFP. “There will not be any speeches by politicians.”
