Pope in silent meditation at Auschwitz
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
29.07.2016 14:05
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Pope in silent meditation at Auschwitz
The third day of the visit of Pope Francis to Poland began at the site of the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz.
Pope Francis at the former Nazi German concentration camp of Auschwitz. Photo: EPA/FILIPPO MONTEFORTE
Pope Francis had announced much earlier there would be no speeches at Auschwitz.
Visibly moved, he walked in silent meditation through the infamous gate at the death camp, surmounted by a metal arch with the slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” - "Work Sets You Free".
Silently he approached the camp’s execution wall and spent time sitting alone in a dark cell where exactly 75 years ago Father Maksymilian Kolbe volunteered to die in place of another inmate.
There was an emotional moment when the pontiff met 12 survivors of the camp, where in WWII the Germans methodically put to death more than a million people, mainly Jews but also Poles, Roma and Russian prisoners of war.
Among the group of survivors was Eugeniusz Gruszczyński, who handed over a candle which later Pope Francis lit at the Wall of Death.
“The Holy Father showed that he sees the tragedy of people who perished here. And he must have felt too it because he was very quiet,” Gruszczyński said later.
Elżbieta Krajewska has more.