Holocaust Remembrance Day: Survivors spotlighted on 80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation

Participants at a wreath-laying ceremony on the roll call square at the Buchenwald Memorial. It is the day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism. On January 27, 1945, the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by Soviet troops. (Ph

About 50 survivors of Auschwitz and other camps attended commemorative events at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Monday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by Soviet troops - and this year is the 80th anniversary. 

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The backstory:

Some 6 million European Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust — the mass murder of Jews and other groups before and during World War II. 

Soviet Red Army troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945, and the day has become known as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. An estimated 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Big picture view:

One reason that Auschwitz has emerged as the leading symbol of the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes is that it was also a labor camp and thousands survived, eyewitnesses who could tell the world what happened there.

This year’s anniversary takes on added poignancy due to the advanced age of the survivors, and an awareness that they will soon be gone, even as new wars make their warnings as relevant as ever.

Monday's ceremony was widely treated as the last major observance that any notable number of survivors will be able to attend.

Just 220,000 Holocaust survivors are still alive, according to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, and more than 20% are over the age of 90.

What they're saying:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged in a statement that this "may be one of the last years survivors are able to share eyewitness accounts of the horrors they experienced."

"We honor those who survived, thank the liberators, and renew our shared commitment to human freedom and justice," the statement read. "As Secretary of State, I will continue my unwavering commitment to support Holocaust survivors and their heirs, just as I did in the United States Senate."

Over the weekend, Pope Francis warned of the "scourge of anti-semitism" in his prayer on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Francis said, "The horror of the extermination of millions of Jewish people and others of different faiths during those years must never be forgotten or denied." 

Commemorative ceremonies

World leaders and royalty joined with elderly camp survivors Monday for commemorations. 

Politicians, however, were not asked to speak this year. Due to the advanced age of the survivors, organizers chose to make them the center of the observances.

Among the leaders expected to attend are Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Germany has never sent both of its highest state representatives to the observances before, according to German news agency dpa.

Among the attendees were also French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Britain's King Charles III, along with kings and queens from Spain, Denmark and Norway.

Local perspective:

Today the site is a museum and memorial managed by the Polish state, and is one of the most visited sites in Poland. 

In 2024, over 1.83 million people visited the site.

The Source: Information in this article was taken from The Associated Press international reportings on the commemorations, and from a public statement made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. This story was reported from Detroit. 

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