Survivors of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp, have warned the world against indifference to hatred, at a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of its liberation by the Soviet army.
Hundreds of Holocaust survivors have joined delegates from world governments at the Auschwitz concentration camp on the 75th anniversary of its liberation. Jewish groups urged Germany to do more to combat anti-Semitism.
Over 200 Holocaust survivors and delegates from more than 50 countries have gathered at the site of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by Soviet troops.
The atrocities that took place at the Nazi extermination camps should not be forgotten, President George Vella was reported saying.
President Vella said it seems that not all have learnt this lesson, as minorities are still being treated badly in certain parts of the world.
The international community needs to understand the significance of what happened all those years ago and ensure that such atrocities are not committed anywhere in the world.
The presidents of Israel and Poland – Reuven Rivlin and Andrzej Duda – laid wreaths together, 75 years after Soviet troops liberated the camp.
About 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Mr Rivlin warned of “voices which spread hate” and threaten democracy.
“Our duty is to fight anti-Semitism, racism and fascist nostalgia – those sick evils,” he said.
He and President Duda laid wreaths at the Death Wall, where the Nazis shot thousands of prisoners.
The vast Auschwitz-Birkenau camp complex, in Nazi-occupied southern Poland, was the regime’s most notorious killing centre.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier met with three survivors in Berlin in the morning before travelling together with them to the site of the camp in Poland
