78th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation commemorated
OSWIECIM, Poland (AP/CBS) — Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors and other mourners commemorated the 78th anniversary Friday of the Nazi German death camp's liberation, some expressing horror that war has again shattered peace in Europe and the lesson of Never Again is being forgotten.
The former concentration and extermination camp is located in the town of Oświęcim in southern Poland, which was under the occupation of German forces during World War II and became a place of systematic murder of Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and others targeted for elimination by Adolf Hitler and his henchmen.
In all, some 1.1 million people were killed at the vast complex before it was liberated by Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 1945.
Today the site, with its barracks, barbed wire and ruins of gas chambers, stands as one of the world's most recognized symbols of evil and a site of pilgrimage for millions.
Jewish and Christian prayers for the dead were recited at the memorial site.
"Standing here today at this place of remembrance, Birkenau, I follow with horror the news from the east that the Russian army, which liberated us here, is waging a war there in Ukraine. Why? Why?" lamented survivor Zdzisława Włodarczyk during observances Friday.
Stefania Wernik, who was born at Auschwitz in November 1944, less than three months before its liberation, spoke of Auschwitz being a "hell on earth."
She said when she was born she was so tiny that the Nazis tattooed her number — 89136 — on her thigh. She was washed in cold water, wrapped in rags and subjected to medical experiments.
And yet her mother had abundant milk, and they both survived. After the war, her mother returned home and reunited with her husband, and "the whole village came to look at us and said it's a miracle."
She appealed for "no more fascism, which brings death, genocide, crimes, slaughter and loss of human dignity."
Among those who attended Friday's commemorations was Doug Emhoff, the husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Emhoff, the first Jewish person to be married to one of the top two nationally elected U.S. officials, bowed his head at an execution wall at Auschwitz, where he left a wreath of flowers in the U.S. flag's colors and the words: "From the people of the United States of America."
The Germans established Auschwitz in 1940 for Polish prisoners; later they expanded the complex, building death chambers and crematoria where Jews from across Europe were brought by train to be murdered.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said "the suffering of 6 million innocently murdered Jews remains unforgotten — as does the suffering of the survivors."
"We recall our historic responsibility on Holocaust Memorial Day so that our Never Again endures in future," he wrote on Twitter.
The German parliament was holding a memorial event focused this year on those who were persecuted for their sexual orientation. Thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people were incarcerated and killed by the Nazis — a fate only publicly recognized decades after WWII.
Elsewhere in the world on Friday events were planned to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual commemoration established by a United Nations resolution in 2005.
In Britain, candles were lit to remember victims of genocide in homes and public buildings, including Buckingham Palace.