Holocaust survivors gather at 79th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation for historic remembrance day

About 20 Holocaust survivors solemnly gathered to mark the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a ceremony in Poland on Saturday.

The approximately 20 survivors from surrounding Nazi concentration camps gathered to lay wreaths and flowers and to light candles at the Death Wall in Auschwitz, where the Nazis executed thousands of inmates.

Later, the group, along with state officials, gathered to memorialize the camp’s 1.1 million camp victims.

The group gathered by a brick women’s barracks at the former concentration camp and lit candles and prayed for the victims.

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Halina Birenbaum, a 94-year-old survivor, spoke during the memorization beside barrack 27, where she spent part of August 1943 until the forced evacuation of camp inmates on foot on Jan. 18, 1945.

She said the suffering and tragedy of people from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel was “painful” for her and an extension of her Auschwitz experience.

Israeli Ambassador to Poland Yacov Livne defended Israel’s retaliation following the unprecedented Hamas terrorist attack.

“We hoped that the lessons of the Holocaust have been learned,” Livne said. “Yet, today we are astonished by accusations of genocide against the Jewish state while we fight for our existence.”

In Germany, residents gathered to remember the 79th anniversary of the Holocaust by laying flowers.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country would continue to bear responsibility for this “crime against humanity.”

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He called on citizens to defend Germany’s democracy and fight antisemitism as the country marked the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

“Never again’ is every day,” Scholz said in his weekly video podcast. “Jan. 27 calls out to us: Stay visible! Stay audible! Against antisemitism, against racism, against misanthropy — and for our democracy.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the day by posting an image of a Jewsih menorah on X.

“Every new generation must learn the truth about the Holocaust,” Zelensky wrote. “Human life must remain the highest value for all nations in the world.”

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In Italy, Holocaust commemorations included a torchlit procession and official statements from top political leaders.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said her conservative nationalist government was committed to eradicating antisemitism that she said had been “reinvigorated” by the Israel-Hamas war.

President Biden wrote that it’s “our responsibility” to combat antisemitism and hate-fueled violence.

“Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we mourn one of the darkest chapters in history, when six million Jews and countless others were systematically murdered,” Biden wrote on X.  “It’s our responsibility to stand up to Antisemitism and hate-fueled violence everywhere.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.