75 years after liberation, Auschwitz survivors plead ‘never forget’
In a solemn ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the last living witnesses to the crimes that took place in this Nazi concentration camp testified to their experience and called on others to never forget.
Many were frail, walking with the support of friends or relatives. They wore scarves emblazoned with their prisoner numbers, the same ones tattooed on their arms. And as they slowly made their way, one by one, to what had been the wall of death, where thousands of prisoners were lined up for summary execution, it was a vivid reminder that before long the last eyewitnesses will be gone.
“What can I say? All I have are these tears to pour over the past,” Batsheva Dagan, 95, told the crowd, her voice often cracking with emotion. “I feel uplifted when I see so many of you here who will carry the memory of innocent people from all nations of the world who met their death here. You will make sure that those horrors are never repeated. I’m sorry, I apologize for the emotions.”
Fifteen years ago, some 1,500 survivors attended the anniversary. This year, there were fewer than 200 and, for many, it is likely to be their last visit.
When Red Army troops liberated Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945, there were only about 7,000 prisoners left, and most of them were starving and near death. More than 1 million people, mostly Jews, had already been murdered at the camp.
Delegations, including world leaders from more than 50 countries, gathered in the former death camp in the Polish town of Oswiecim and called on the world to “never forget” the horrors and barbarity of the Holocaust.
Although the Holocaust remains a key area of research for historians and is a staple of school curricula in many countries, there is fear that the memory of what happened at the camps is fading among younger generations.
Auschwitz ceremony is a somber reminder of the depths of hate and evil,