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. 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. In all, the Germans murdered 6 million Jews from all over Europe, annihilating two-thirds of Europe's Jews and one-third of all Jews worldwide.
In , the United Nations designated Jan. Later in the day, world leaders and royalty will join with elderly camp survivors, the youngest of whom are in their 80s. Politicians, however, have not been asked to speak this year. Due to the advanced age of the survivors, organizers are choosing to make them the center of the observances. Germany has never sent both of its highest state representatives to the observances before, according to German news agency dpa.
It is a sign of Germany's continued commitment to take responsibility for the nation's crimes, even amid a growing far-right movement that would like to forget. Russian representatives were in the past central guests at the anniversary observances in recognition of the Soviet liberation of the camp on Jan.
But they have not been welcome since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in The AP is solely responsible for this content. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in.
