Managers around the world will attend commemorations in Auschwitz on Monday, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British King Charles III.
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Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday at the Auschwitz Memorial in Werthe Impark, in Amsterdam, to pay tribute to the victims of the holocaust on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi camp for concentration and extermination of Auschwitz- Birkenau.
Since 2005, the UN commemorates the missing and survivors of the camps every January 27.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof joined the Amstellodam event alongside survivors and public members.
Jacques Grishaver, representative of the Dutch committee of Auschwitz and survivor of the camp, spoke the persistent pain of the holocaust and the responsibility he weighs on humanity.
“The pain has not disappeared”he said. “But she always gave me the strength to fight for a world in which” never again Auschwitz “is not only a promise, but becomes a reality.” Never again Auschwitz “is more than a cry of memory. It’s a mission “.
More than a million people killed in Auschwitz
The commemorations will continue on Monday in Auschwitz-Birkenau, in southern Poland, where More than a million people – Jews, Polish, Roma, Schi, Soviet, homosexual and others – prisoners of war – were murdered by Nazi Germany. The camp was released by Soviet forces on January 27, 1945.
For the 80th anniversary of the event, the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau expects that a fifty survivors participate in Monday events, joined by political leaders and dignitaries around the world.
-Auschwitz survivor at the age of ten, Barbara Donezka returned to the barracks where she was imprisoned.
Standing next to the wooden bed that she once occupied, she said: “Memories come back to me. I wonder how I could survive all of this: hunger, cold, fear of losing my life”.
One of his most painful memories is The death of her young friend Helena, who was only four years old. “It was horrible, we would cry so much”she recalls.
“This is the first time that I have been confronted with death. I thought we were not going to die. I thought only the adults died, we still had so much time before us”she adds.
Leading leaders expected at the ceremony
Among the world leaders present at the Monday ceremony will be the German Chancellor Olaf Scholzthe French president Emmanuel Macronoutgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the British king Charles III. Austrian, Italian, Polish dignitaries and other nations will also be present.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the other hand, announced that he will not attend the ceremony due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court For alleged war crimes in Gaza. It is the Minister of Education Yoav Kisch who will represent Israel.
The Auschwitz camp, now museum and commemorative site, remains A global symbol of holocaust and dangers of hatred, racism and anti -Semitism. In 2024, more than 1.83 million visitors came to discover its history.
