The figure of the witness of the Shoah and the horror of the camps, not very audible in the aftermath of the war, was built over the years. Until today, where they are looking for a new generation of memory smugglers.
80 years after the release of the camp, there are barely a few hundred survivors of Auschwitz Birkenau. A handful of them will attend the commemorations of January 27, under a large ephemeral tent mounted near the “Juden Rampe”. Neither Ginette Kolinka, 99, nor Judith Elkan-Hervé, 98, large French memory passers, will be on the trip, deemed too tiring and too trying. “This year, it was decided that there would be no major political speeches and that only the former deportees, who may no longer be among us in ten years, would be expressed during the ceremony”, explains Piotr Cywinski, site director.
This decision avoids making the Auschwitz camp a political platform, which it should not be. It also takes note of the indisputable aura that the last survivors have in 2025. It was created, according to the expression of the historian Annette Wieviorka, “A singular anxiety” And an emergency …
This article is reserved for subscribers. You have 82% to discover.
Flash sale
€ 4.99 per month for 12 months. Without commitment.
Already subscribed? Connect
