75 years after its release: Hundreds of Holocaust survivors attend a ceremony in Auschwitz

About 200 survivors and family members take part in the event, which also reached the Polish President and other leaders of the world - but not those who participated in the Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem. In the background, the fierce historical debate between Warsaw and Moscow. Rivlin: "It is our duty to fight anti-Semitism and the evils that are rooted in democracy"

Live broadcast from Poland:

More than 200 Holocaust survivors gather for a ceremony at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of its liberation. Participants in the event include President Reuven Rivlin, Polish President Andrzej Duda, prime ministers and royalty from around the world, but they will not include senior world leaders who arrived in Israel last week for a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Museum.

The separate events marking the formative event since the end of World War II take place at a time of intense debate about the moves that led to the outbreak of World War II and the Holocaust between Poland and Russia. Last week, the Polish president blamed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for lying after he alleged that Warsaw had cooperated with Nazi Germany at the beginning of the war. Her uncle refused to attend the ceremony in Jerusalem because he was not given permission to speak there.

In addition to the presidents of Israel and Poland, German President Frank Walter Steinmeyer also attends the ceremony, which began at the "Death Gate", where the railroad tracks leading the victims into the camp are still located. For many of the survivors, this will probably be the last opportunity to attend the ceremony to mark the camp. Ron Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress and who sponsored the arrival of about 100 survivors and their families, said before the ceremony that the emphasis was on the survivors, and not the political leaders.

More on the subject

Released at the end of World War II. Auschwitz extermination camp (Photo: Reuters)

Ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp and extermination camp, January 27, 2020 (Photo: Reuters)

Before the ceremony, State President Reuben Rivlin said at a press conference near the camp that "it is our duty to fight anti-Semitism, racism and fascist nostalgia, in the same ills that threaten to erode our democratic foundations." Polish President Andrzej Duda, who did not attend the international conference at Yad Vashem last week, thanked Rivlin for coming to the camp. "Your presence is a sign of memory, and it is a visible sign of resistance to inhumane treatment and to all types of hate, especially racial hatred," her uncle said.

For many non-Jews, Auschwitz remains where the Nazis imprisoned and killed Polish opponents, innocent civilians, and Catholic priests. Critics of her uncle's Justice Law party say the government is not doing enough to fight anti-Semitism, focusing instead on highlighting Polish heroism during the war and underestimating the demands of Jews to restore their stolen property. On the other hand, the Polish ruling party claims that the West does not understand the pain and heroism of the country.

Battle for the Narrative: The War between Russia and Poland on World War II Remembrance

Rivlin and her uncle, today (Photo: Reuters)

Polish President Andrzej Aunt and State President Reuven Rivlin at the Commemoration of Foreigners, 75 years marking the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration and Extermination Camp, Poland, January 27, 2020 (Photo: Reuters)

The camp, which was established by Nazi Germany in 1940 in 1940, was initially used to imprison Polish political prisoners and later became one of the largest Jewish extermination centers in the realization of the "Final Solution". Holocaust survivor Yvonne Engelman, 92, now a resident of Australia who returned to the camp where her relatives were murdered, said: "We could hear coughing, crying and gasping children, smelling human flesh and the terrible fear that might be the next victim."

75 years later, anti-Semitism has not disappeared from the world. An American study of the Anti-Defamation League of 2019 shows that one in four Europeans hold "malicious" attitudes toward Jews, compared to only 19% in North America. In Germany, 42% of the public agree that "Jews still talk too much about what happened in the Holocaust."

(Update first: 13:25)