Auschwitz survivors the focus of ceremony for 80th anniversary of its liberation, on Holocaust Remembrance Day
CBSN
Oswiecim, Poland — The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops is being marked on Monday at the site of the former death camp, a ceremony that is widely being treated as the last major observance that any notable number of survivors will be able to attend.
Nazi German forces murdered some 1.1 million people at the site in southern Poland, which was under German occupation during World War II. Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but the Germans also murdered many Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others who were targeted for elimination in the Nazi racial ideology.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose nation lost 6 million citizens during the war, placed a candle at the Death Wall, where prisoners were executed, among them Poles who resisted the occupation of their country. He was surrounded by elderly survivors of the camp assisted by family members.
Oswiecim, Poland — The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops is being marked on Monday at the site of the former death camp, a ceremony that is widely being treated as the last major observance that any notable number of survivors will be able to attend.
Pope Francis urges eradication of antisemitism, says horror of the Holocaust must never be forgotten
Pope Francis warned of the "scourge of antisemitism" in his Angelus prayer on Sunday, the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, noting it marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
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The world's focus will be on the remaining survivors of Nazi Germany's atrocities on Monday as world leaders and royalty join them for commemorations on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
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