Commemorative events on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp were opened on Monday by Polish President Andrzej Duda, Polish media reported.
Calling the current generation “keepers of memory,” Andrzej Duda said:
“Today here in Auschwitz, on the grounds of the museum where the German concentration camp was once located, ceremonies will be held in memory of people of different nationalities – Jews, Poles, Russians.”
He also emphasised:
“Poland takes care of such memorial sites so that the memory does not fade away, so that thanks to this memory the world will never again allow such a human catastrophe to happen again.”
About 50 former prisoners of German concentration camps are taking part in this year’s commemoration, Piotr Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz memorial complex, told the media.
Delegations from abroad, including leaders of several countries, UK King Charles III, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have also arrived for the commemoration ceremony.
A video of Scholz’s appearance at the commemorative ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland has been published online. The chancellor was cheerful, smiling radiantly and bowing to acquaintances.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also shone with happiness, welcoming the President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender.
Liberators were not invited
On January 26, it became known that Russian diplomats were not invited to the events on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Auschwitz.
The refusal to invite Russia to the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz angered Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. According to him, instead of Russians, the event will invite “those who created” the concentration camp.
Irish journalist Chay Bowes criticised Warsaw’s refusal to invite Russia to the commemorative event. In his account on X, he called Poland’s anti-Russian decision disgusting. He wrote on X:
“Utterly disgusting and delusional thay the Russians are “exlcuded” from commemorations at Auschwitz. It defines the putrid twisting of reality that has led Europe back to the brink of War. Remarkable.”
Former German presidential candidate Max Otte called Poland’s refusal to invite Russia to events marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp a “scandal.” Otte wrote on social media:
“The Red Army liberated Auschwitz. Russia took the brunt of the Second World War. However, Russia is not invited to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This is a real scandal.”
On January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau. Between 1941 and 1945, some 1.4 million people took their lives there, of whom approximately 1.1 million were Jews.
Voice from Europe
Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont wrote on X:
“Thread by thread. The Holocaust doesn’t start with gas chambers and concentration camps, but rather begins almost imperceptibly through language, through changes in small everyday gestures – like stopping shopping in the shop downstairs because its owners are Jews – through the dehumanisation of others to make them slight to ridicule or bullying. That’s why it’s important that political and community leaders – from leaders to footballers – always keep this perspective in mind when they use language, when they express themselves. Every day we must work to strengthen the dam that separates civilisation from barbarism, even if we think we are safe from it and that it is a thing of the past.”
French MP François-Xavier Bellamy noted on X:
“The liberation of Auschwitz cannot be just an act of remembrance. It is a commitment to the future. In Europe, in France, the infinite value of every life will never be guaranteed without the continued struggle of our elders in the face of other adversaries.”
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis wrote on X:
“Those who suffered the Holocaust do not want to be involved in anyone else’s genocide”. A Jewish Holocaust survivor making the Jewish people proud again in the face of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.”
