Leaders Mark Auschwitz Liberation
World leaders from 30 countries mark 60th anniversary of Auschwitz death camp liberation
Sixty years ago today on January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp marking the end of the systematic killing of European Jewry.
A memorial ceremony commemorating the event was held at the site of the Auschwitz camp, the climax of a week of special events marking the historical event. The ceremony was attended by leaders from 30 countries.
Presidents, heads of state, ministers, royals, clergymen, veteran soldiers, students and above all survivors and their families attended the ceremony to pay their respects to the dead.
Once again they remembered the million and a half victims
who perished at Auschwitz, and the millions of Jews killed at the hands of the Nazi regime.
President Moshe Katzav, heading the Israeli delegation, spoke at the ceremony. He said he believes the Holocaust is not just a Jewish tragedy, but the failure of all humanity.
"The allies didn't do enough to stop the Holocaust and destruction of the Jewish nation," he said. "Planes flew over Auschwitz and no one bombed the camps."
Katzav urged European leaders to teach their nations about the Holocaust and stop neo-Nazi groups from developing in their countries.
"We fear anti-Semitism, we fear Holocaust denial and we fear the European youth's distorted views of the past," he said.
He said he believes Holocaust remembrance must be passed on to the younger generation.
"Europe owes it to millions of European Jews and owes it to itself," he said.
Author and Nobel Prize laureate Eli Wiezel, an Auschwitz survivor, attended the ceremony. He told the nations to put an end to hatred and anti-Semitism.
During his speech, he turned to the youth present and urged them to not forget history.
"You are our messengers," he said. "And the message needs to arouse hope."
Ukrainian President Victor Yushenko also spoke at the ceremony. He promised to stop all persecution of Jews in his country.
Yushenko spoke of his father who served in the Red Army and was jailed at Auschwitz.
"It's a sacred place for me and my family," he said. "Here my father suffered."
However, it was not the heads of state taking center stage, but the survivors and members of their families. This ceremony is likely to be the last for many.
