Anti-Semitism is making a comeback. That was the main message delivered by Auschwitz survivors as they marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp by Soviet troops at a meeting of those who experienced its horrors.
The ceremony at the site of the camp, which Nazi Germany set up in occupied Poland during World War II to kill European Jews, was attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Britain's King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish President Andrzej Duda and many other leaders. They did not give speeches, but they listened for perhaps the last time to those who suffered and witnessed one of humanity's greatest atrocities.
“There has always been a small minority of us, those who went through all that suffering and lived. That number in itself was very few, and those who lived to see freedom, are indeed so few, and now there are only a handful left. Let us not be afraid to demonstrate the same courage today, when Hamas tries to deny the massacre of October 7. Let us not be afraid of opposing conspiracy theories that say that all the evil in this world results from a conspiracy launched by some unspecified social group, and Jews are often involved in this,” said Marian Turski, an Auschwitz survivor.
Retired doctor Leon Weintraub, 99, who was separated from his family and sent to Auschwitz in 1944, warned of the dangers of intolerance.
"Therefore, I repeat, be attentive and vigilant. We survivors understand that the consequences of being different is active persecution, the effects of which we have personally experienced on our own skin. Therefore, let us be very serious and take seriously what the enemies of democracy preach, they generally seek to implement these slogans that they promote," said Leon Weintraup, a survivor of Auschwitz.
Anti-Semitic incidents have increased in part along with anti-Israel protests in many parts of Europe, North America and Australia since Israel began its assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza following attacks on Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023.
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said hatred of Jews was growing against the backdrop of that war, adding: "Young people are getting most of their information from social media and that's dangerous."
President Duda told reporters at the camp that "we Poles, on whose land the Germans built this concentration camp, are today the guardians of memory." More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, died in gas chambers or from hunger, cold and disease at Auschwitz, where most were brought in freight cars, packed like cattle. More than three million of Poland's 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. (A2 Televizion)
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