(ANSA-AFP) - OSWIECIM, JAN 27 - 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." Speaking to AFP ahead of the
anniversary, survivors around the world spoke about the need to
preserve the memory of what happened when there will no longer
be living witnesses. They also warned about rising hatred and
anti-Semitism around the world and spoke of their fears about
history repeating itself. (ANSA-AFP).
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
