Survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp gathered on Monday, January 27, for commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, while testimony from survivors warned about signs of rising anti-antisemitism and hatred in the world today.
More than 200 survivors of the camp were expected to attend, many of them elderly Jews who traveled from homes in Israel, the United States, Australia, Peru, Russia, Slovenia and elsewhere.
Many of them lost parents and grandparents in Auschwitz or other Nazi death camps. But on Monday, they were joined on their journey back by children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren.
World leaders also gathered in Jerusalem last week to mark the anniversary. Among them were vice president Mike Pence, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Prince Charles.
On the eve of the commemorations, survivors, many leaning on their children and grandchildren for support, walked through the place where they had been brought in on cattle cars and suffered hunger, illness and near death.
They said they came to remember, to share their histories with others and make a gesture of defiance toward those who’d sought their destruction.
