80th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation; A Call to Remember and Resist Hatred
Holocaust survivors, world leaders, and dignitaries gathered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial in Poland on Monday, January 27, 2025, to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp by Soviet troops. The ceremony, held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, was widely regarded as the last major observance where a significant number of survivors could attend due to their advanced ages.
Among the attendees was 86-year-old Tova Friedman, who was just six years old when she was liberated from Auschwitz in 1945. Friedman, who traveled from her home in New Jersey, expressed concern about rising hatred and antisemitism, warning that the world risks repeating history if such trends continue. “The world has become toxic,” she said. “There is so much hatred around, so much distrust, that if we don’t stop, it may get worse and worse.”
Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II, was the site where Nazi forces murdered over 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people, and others targeted by the Nazi regime. The camp’s liberation on January 27, 1945, revealed the full extent of the Holocaust’s horrors to the world.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, who laid a wreath at the camp’s “Death Wall,” emphasized Poland’s role as a guardian of memory. “We Poles, on whose land the Germans built this extermination industry, are today the guardians of memory,” he said. Survivors, many wearing blue-and-white striped scarves reminiscent of their prison uniforms, participated in the solemn ceremonies.
World leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Britain’s King Charles III, attended but were asked not to speak, allowing survivors to take center stage. King Charles lit a candle in remembrance of the victims and visited Auschwitz I, where he viewed personal items confiscated from prisoners. He also met with members of the Jewish community in Kraków, praising their efforts to preserve Holocaust memory and support refugees.
The event underscored the importance of Holocaust education, particularly as the number of survivors dwindles. German Chancellor Scholz lamented the lack of Holocaust knowledge among many Germans, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who also attended, called for vigilance against hatred and forgetfulness. “We must prevent forgetfulness,” he said. “It is everyone’s mission to do everything possible to prevent evil from winning.”
The commemoration served as a stark reminder of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and the ongoing need to combat antisemitism and hatred worldwide. As survivors shared their harrowing stories, the world was urged to remember the past to ensure such horrors are never repeated.
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