Former Auschwitz prisoners celebrate 70 Anniversary of Liberation

Around 300, former prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz gathered in its territory to mark the 70 anniversary of the liberation.

In the former camp, located in the south of Poland, between 1940 and 1945 for years, 1,1 million people were killed, most of them were Jews.

Most likely, this is the last round date on which former prisoners in such large numbers will be able to arrive.

Also present at the commemorative events are the heads of some member states of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Commemorative events include the laying of wreaths, a memorial service and the lighting of candles at the site of the former death camp of Birkenau, which was part of Auschwitz during the war.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. In 1947, a museum was opened on the camp grounds.

Former concentration camp prisoner Renee Salt said in an interview with the BBC that she first came here 10 years ago to, as she put it, “bury her dead.” Now she comes every year.

“I will come as long as I can. There are still many people in the world who deny the Holocaust, and if we don’t talk about it, the world simply won’t know what happened,” said the 85-year-old former prisoner of the camp.

Eyewitness accounts

On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the declassification of some archival documents relating to the liberation of Auschwitz.

They include the report of General Kramnikov of the 60 Army of the First Ukrainian Front, whose soldiers first opened the gates of the camp.

According to him, an endless stream of people flowed through the gate to freedom.

“They were all extremely exhausted. Gray-haired old men, young men, women with babies, teenagers, almost all of them were half naked,” the general wrote. “They became the first living evidence that in Auschwitz hundreds of thousands of people were tortured by back-breaking labor, burned or shot.”

The first at the gates of the death camp was 32-year-old Red Army officer Anatoly Shapiro with his soldiers. In 1992, he emigrated to the USA. Shortly before his death in 2005, he gave an interview to the New York Daily News. Here is how he remembered this day:

“The stench was such that it was impossible to stay in this place even for a few minutes. My soldiers begged me to allow them to leave, but we had a task that we were obliged to complete.

We had no idea about the existence of the camp. Our commanders did not tell us anything. We entered the camp site 27 January 1945 of the year. We saw prisoners in striped robes who looked a little like people.

They looked scary: some walking skeletons - skin and bones. When we told them that the Red Army had freed them, they didn’t respond at all. They had no strength even to turn their heads and speak.

They were not wearing any shoes, their feet were wrapped in some rags. It was January outside, the snow was melting underfoot, and I still can’t understand how they managed to survive.”

Later in the interview with the National Radio of Israel, Anatoly Shapiro told other details:

“I saw crematoria ovens and other death machines. I saw the wind stirring up particles of human ash. I would like all subsequent generations to never allow what we had to endure.”

Europe leaders honor Holocaust remembrance

The presidents of Germany and France Joachim Gauck and Francois Hollande take part in the mourning events.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not come to Auschwitz: instead of him, the head of the presidential administration Sergei Ivanov arrived at memorable events.

A spokesman for the Russian leader, Dmitry Peskov, explained the absence of Putin at Auschwitz by the fact that he was not invited by the Polish government.

Earlier, on Polish Radio, Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said that the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Auschwitz was liberated by Ukrainians, since this operation was carried out by the forces of the First Ukrainian Front. This statement caused a storm of indignation in Moscow.

The acute reaction of Russia is attributed to the tension that has intensified in recent days over events in Ukraine.

The Auschwitz Museum has long been struggling to scrape together funds to survive. However, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which contains it, recently announced that it had managed to collect almost the entire amount necessary to continue its work - more than $150 million.

On the eve of the anniversary of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel drew attention to the growth of anti-Semitism in modern Europe, calling it a shame the fact that today in Germany, the Jews are faced with insults, threats and violence.

“We must nip anti-Semitism and all forms of racism in the bud,” she said at a memorable meeting in Berlin. “We must constantly be vigilant and defend our freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”

At the same time, French President Francois Hollande condemned the unacceptable, as he put it, problem of modern anti-Semitism. Speaking to Jews gathered at a Holocaust memorial, he told them: “France is your homeland.”

Shortly before this, the data were published, according to which the number of anti-Semitic manifestations in France in 2014 doubled in comparison with the previous year, reaching 850. Early this year Jewish supermarket in Paris attacked by Islamists. The victims of this attack were four people, 15 was saved, writes BBC News.