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Poland marks Auschwitz liberation anniversary

PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea 27.01.2017 07:24
Poland commemorates Auschwitz Liberation Day on Friday, which marks the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of the WWII German-Nazi concentration camp.
Auschwitz-Birkenau. Photo: Flickr.com/Adam TasAuschwitz-Birkenau. Photo: Flickr.com/Adam Tas

About 60 former prisoners will gather at the site of the German Nazi camp along with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydo and delegates from Israel and Russia.

The Auschwitz Birkenau camp operated from 1940 until its liberation by the Red Army on 27 January, 1945.

Over 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, perished in Auschwitz at the hands of Poland’s German Nazi occupiers during World War II.

The main theme of this year's anniversary will be "Time" symbolized by a watch, which was found during archaeological works carried out in the gas chamber and crematorium III in 1967, and which was returned to the Museum this year.

“Time inevitably distances us from the history of Auschwitz. Memory is always a struggle with time. Time is also what we lack in our mission of making successive generations aware of the dangers of populism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and various national exoticisms,” said Dr. Piotr Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz Museum. (vb/rg)

tags: Auschwitz
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