Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors and other mourners commemorated the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp and International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday, January 27. The former concentration and extermination camp is located in the town of Oświęcim in southern Poland, which was under the occupation of German forces during World War II and became a place of systematic murder of Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and others targeted for elimination by Adolf Hitler and his henchmen.
In all, some 1.1 million people were killed at the vast complex before it was liberated by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945.
Today the site, with its barracks and barbed wire and the ruins of gas chambers, stands as one of the world's most recognized symbols of evil and a site of pilgrimage for millions from around the world. Yet it lies only 300 kilometers (185 miles) from Ukraine, where Russian aggression is creating unthinkable death and destruction – a conflict on the minds of many this year.
One survivor, Zdzisława Włodarczyk, said during observances Friday that the war has created a "feeling of horror" in her.
Piotr Cywinski, Auschwitz state museum director, compared Nazi crimes to those the Russians have committed in Ukrainian towns like Bucha and Mariupol. He said they were inspired by a “similar sick megalomania" and that free people must not remain indifferent. "Being silent means giving voice to the perpetrators," Cywinski said. "Remaining indifferent is tantamount to condoning murder."
Indifference, hatred kills
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the event alluding to his own country's situation. "We know and remember that indifference kills along with hatred," he said in a social media post. "Indifference and hatred are always capable of creating evil together only. That is why it is so important that everyone who values life should show determination when it comes to saving those whom hatred seeks to destroy."
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended observances marking the 60th anniversary of the camp's liberation in 2005. This year, no Russian official at all was invited due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Putin repeated a claim that neo-Nazis were committing crimes in Ukraine – an allegation Moscow has used to justify its military intervention. "Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies," Putin said.
"This is evidenced by the crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing and punitive actions organised by neo-Nazis in Ukraine. It is against that evil that our soldiers are bravely fighting," he said in a statement. Supporters of Putin's military operation allege Ukraine's treatment of Russian speakers in the country is comparable with the actions of Nazi Germany.
One of the goals of the operation was the "de-Nazification" of Ukriane, Putin said, when he announced nearly one year ago he had ordered Russian troops towards Kyiv. The claims have been contested by the Ukrainian government and the country's Jewish community.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said "the suffering of 6 million innocently murdered Jews remains unforgotten – as does the suffering of the survivors." "We recall our historic responsibility on Holocaust Memorial Day so that our Never Again endures in future," he wrote on Twitter.
The German parliament was holding a memorial event focused this year on those who were persecuted for their sexual orientation. Thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people were incarcerated and killed by the Nazis. Their fate was only publicly recognized decades after the end of World War II. Elsewhere in the world on Friday events were planned to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual commemoration established by a United Nations resolution in 2005.