Devendra Kumar
A group of around 20 Holocaust survivors from various Nazi camps in Europe gathered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site in southern Poland to mark the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. The survivors, accompanied by state officials and other participants, laid wreaths and flowers at the Death Wall, where thousands of inmates were executed, mostly Polish resistance members and others. They also attended a ceremony at a brick women’s barrack at Birkenau, which has recently undergone conservation, and prayed and lit candles at the monument near the crematoria ruins.
The memorial event was held to remember the 1.1 million camp victims, mostly Jews, who perished during World War II. The theme of the observances was the human being, symbolized in simple, hand-drawn portraits, emphasizing the suffering of the people held and killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The event was also attended by Holocaust victims’ relatives, who joined the survivors in placing candles at the Death Wall.
Similar commemorations were held across Europe, including in Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the country’s responsibility for the “crime against humanity” and called on citizens to defend democracy and fight antisemitism. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, also marked the occasion by tweeting a message urging every generation to learn the truth about the Holocaust and to value human life above all else.
In Italy, Holocaust commemorations took place, including a torchlit procession and official statements from top political leaders. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni reiterated her government’s commitment to eradicating antisemitism, which she claimed had been “reinvigorated” amidst the Israel-Hamas war. The event was, however, marred by controversy, with leftist movements planning a torchlit procession to remember all victims of the Holocaust, including Roma, homosexuals, and political dissidents, despite concerns that such events may be co-opted by anti-Israel forces and used against Jews.
The Nazis used Auschwitz-Birkenau as a concentration and death camp for Poland’s resistance fighters, as well as for the extermination of Europe’s Jews, Roma, and other nationals, between 1942 and 1945. Soviet Red Army troops liberated the camp on January 27, 1945, freeing the surviving inmates. Since 1979, Auschwitz-Birkenau has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.