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14 June. National Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Nazi Concentration Camps.
On 14 June, the directors and staff of the Auschwitz Memorial Site, along with Dyonizy Lechowicz, a former prisoner of Auschwitz and Mauthausen-Gusen, laid a wreath at the Wall of Death by block 11 to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Nazi Concentration Camps. 73 years ago, the German Nazis transported a group of 728 Polish political prisoners from the prison in Tarnów and sentenced them to the newly built concentration camp of Auschwitz.
Dyonizy Lechowicz was deported to Auschwitz on July 20, 1943. He was given the number 137555 and was immediately sent to the penal company in block 11. In July of 1944, he was transported to Mauthausen-Gusen.
Before noon, a Holy Mass intended for the victims of the Nazis was also celebrated, presided over by the Ordinary of the Diocese of Bielsko-Żywiec, Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy. In his homily, the priest stressed that 14 June was the tragic beginning of the decisive phase for the extermination of some of the nations of the world, mostly Jews, Poles and Roma, planned by the Nazis. “The monstrous machinery of human misery was unfurled at that time. The most terrible and most shocking page of human history was opened, not only for Poland but also for the world, and from that day began the mass transport of people to Auschwitz. There was no possible way to return. Here the gate was latched. The road led only to the crematorium,” said Bishop Rakoczy.
In the years 1940-1945, Hitler deported approx. 150,000 Poles to Auschwitz. They were the second largest group of prisoners after the Jews. At least half of them died in Auschwitz, and many more after being transferred to other camps. Upon the 2006 decision of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, 14 June is celebrated as the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Nazi Concentration Camps.
