Warsaw [Poland], January 28: Auschwitz survivor Bernard Offen expressed concern about rising social hatred at a commemoration ceremony for the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp on Tuesday.
"I see resurgent hatred. I see violence that is once again being justified. And I see people who believe that their rage counts for more than the life of another," he said.
The memorial in Poland at the site of the former concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau deliberately refrained from including speeches by politicians and diplomats this year to ensure full attention was given to the testimonies of the former inmates, director Piotr Cywinski emphasized ahead of the ceremony.
Survivors' participation has a special significance because many of them are already very elderly.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki laid a wreath in front of a plaque commemorating the first transport of Polish prisoners to the camp.
"Auschwitz is a symbol for barbarism, and also for indifference towards the death of the innocent," he said. Poland was under obligation to recall the tragedy of the Holocaust, but also what had happened before the start of World War II in 1939 and after its end in 1945.
"Only 15% of the criminals from German concentration camps had to answer for their actions. The world turned its gaze away from this tragedy for many years," he said.
Speaking ahead of the event, Cywinski said that the memories of the survivor were a great gift that had often been underestimated in the past. "In them, we find the reference points urgently needed today, wise warnings, indispensable protective mechanisms and insights that go beyond our time," he said.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp symbolizes the Holocaust and the horrors of Nazism. Around 1.1 million people died there between 1940 and 1945, most of whom were Jews. They were shot, murdered in gas chambers or died from hunger and disease.
Source: Qatar Tribune
