The world marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and some of the few survivors attended ceremonies at the site of the infamous Nazi death camp.
Auschwitz was the largest of the extermination camps and became a symbol of the genocide of six million European Jews by Nazi Germany between 1940 and 1945, of whom one million perished there along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.
The day of its liberation was declared Holocaust Remembrance Day by the United Nations.
Around 50 survivors and dozens of European officials, including the French President, will attend the commemoration event at the gates of Auschwitz II-Birkenau Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Pawel Sawicki, a spokesman for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial, said there would be no speeches by politicians and that leaders would instead listen to the voices of survivors.
"It's clear to all of us that this is the last significant anniversary that we can have a group of survivors who will be visible and who can be present on the ground," He said.
"It won't happen in ten years, and while we can, we should listen to the voices of the survivors, their testimonies, their personal stories. This is something that is of great importance when we talk about how the memory of Auschwitz is being shaped."
Duda told reporters at the camp that "we Poles, on whose territory the Germans built this concentration camp, are today the guardians of memory".
Speaking ahead of the X commemoration, Macron said: "Let us fight tirelessly against anti-Semitism and hatred in the name of all those who perished. Let us be guardians of their memory."
Speaking to AFP ahead of the anniversary, survivors from around the world spoke of the need to preserve the memory of what happened when there are no living witnesses.
They also warned of growing hatred around the world and spoke of their fears of history repeating itself.
Commemorating crimes committed in the name of the Nazi concept of racial superiority has become a fiercely political issue in recent years with the rise of far-right parties in Europe.
On Saturday, the billionaire Elon Musk, a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, with a video message to supporters of the German party AfD (Alternative fuer Deutschland), which came second in the polls for the 23 February elections and whose platform includes downplaying historical guilt for the Holocaust.
"Children should not be blamed for the sins of their parents, let alone their grandparents," Musk said.
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said Musk's speech sounded ominous to him. "The words we heard from the main actors at the AfD rally about 'a greater Germany' and 'the need to forget German guilt for Nazi crimes' sounded all too familiar and ominous. Especially just hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz," Tusk said.
Musk's initial support for the AfD last month drew strong rebukes, including from Scholz, who said the tech billionaire's support for the far right "threatens" European democracy.
Extremism has been on the rise in recent years. For example, the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021, instigated by far-right extremists, highlighted the increasingly violent nature of political extremism. In some countries, such as the US and the UK, the number of Islamophobic incidents has also increased since 7 October 2023, when the conflict between Israel and Hamas began.
92 years old Eva Szepesiováwho survived the Holocaust has a warning for the world: do not let history repeat itself.
When asked how she perceived the growing extremism and right-wing populism, she replied: "It's scary. It's definitely scary that it is. And that's why we need to do something about it right from the start."
In the face of the trend towards extremism, UN agencies have called for global action in recent years. In June 2023, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2686, calling on the international community to condemn and publicly denounce hate speech, racism and manifestations of extremism.
CMG/ gnews - RoZ
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