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69th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz
On the 27th of January 2014, 69 years have passed since the liberation of the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. The anniversary ceremony, which took place at the former Aushwitz II-Birkenau camp were attended by former prisoners of Auschwitz and Holocaust survivors.
They were accompanied by representatives of the Polish authorities, including Cezary Grabarczyk - Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of Poland, as well as a very large delegation of parliament of the Israeli Knesset, which was led by Yaariv Levin - head of the coalition, and Isaac Herzog leader of the opposition. President Bronisław Komorowski of the Republic of Poland has extended his official patronage over the event.
Among the guests were also members of parliaments of many other countries, ambassadors and diplomats, representatives of the clergy, regional authorities, local governments, institutions and organizations, as well as all those who wished to honour the memory of the victims of the Nazi Germans.The first to speak at the ceremony were former prisoners of Auschwitz: Noah Klieger and Zofia Posmysz.
Noah Klieger recalled a dramatic history, which took place in the freight car during the Auschwitz camp evacuation. “In the train there was a young prisoner who spoke Yiddish. He turned to us and said: please, say Kaddish with me, in the intention of my father, who passed away. If you do it I will share my bread with you. He took out a loaf of bread from under his striped uniform. We said the prayer and later, while chewing bread, I asked him: when did your father pass away? And he said: just recently. We are sitting on him”.
“It happened occasionally, that whenever someone heard me saying that I was going to Auschwitz people asked: “Why are you going back there?” There was only one answer: “because, it exists” - former prisoner Zofia Posmysz began her speech. “Let me express, also on your behalf, my gratitude for this place, this facility called the Auschwitz- Birkenau Museum. For the fact that it exists and that there are no signs of stoppage in saving its authenticity. The last verse of the camp song “Birkenau” goes:
“And you shall have no grave, friend,
a handful of ashes the wind will blow,
That doesn’t matter, after all you’re one of many,
from those many who the world has forgotten”.
The fact that almost 70 years passed by and we are still here, gives hope that the world will not forget”, Zofia Posmysz emphasized.
This year’s celebration of the anniversary of the liberation had a special character, because of the important upcoming anniversaries. This year marks 70 years since the beginning of the deportations of the Jews from Hungary to the camp. It was the largest extermination operation in the history of Auschwitz. Germans documented the process of deportation of Jews from Hungary, in more than 200 black-and-white photographs, which are today one of the most important evidence of that crime. The faces of the victims from that document were the visual symbol of the whole ceremony.
Additionally, this year also marks the 70th anniversary of the liquidation of the so-called Zigeunerlager at Birkenau , 70th anniversary of the deportation to Auschwitz of nearly 13,000 Poles arrested during the Warsaw Uprising, 70th anniversary of the extermination in Auschwitz Jews deported from the liquidated ghetto in Lodz, as well as the 70th anniversary of the revolt of prisoners from the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz.
As stated by the director of the Auschwitz Memorial Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński “these events from year 1944 set up for us the calendar of preparations for the big anniversary “. He said that “On this wintry January day next year we’ll be celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the liberation. We will then tell the Last Ones that their words are rooted in our memory. That their pain, similarly to the pain present on the victims’ faces, has become the immanent part of foundations of our civilisation”.
Cezary Grabarczyk, Deputy Marshal of the Polish Parliament, underlined that we should always react when the term “Polish death camps” is used. “It is a blow for both Poland and those who were murdered in this extermination camp, who become victims of such lies, such inaccurate statements, negligence or just plain ignorance. In my opinion, from Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp, a clear answer should sound. It will honour the truth and the respect for those victims who we commemorate today, and will always remember”, said Cezary Grabarczyk.
“Auschwitz happened. It means that it is possible. This will forever be a black hole, which threatens to consume the entire history of humankind. It is unprecedented not only in our nation, but the entire Europe” said Isaac Herzog, member of the Israeli parliament. “The voice of Auschwitz calls us so we can rely on our own strength and build a new, creative society” he added. The organizer of the visit of the Knesset delegation to Poland was the From The Depths foundation.
Aleksandr Alekseev , ambassador of the Russian Federation in his speech asked to commemorate the liberators : “Talking about the lessons learned from the experience of this place, we rightly point to the inadmissibility of extremism, intolerance, xenophobia, or cultivating nation’s uniqueness. However, there is one undeniable truth: the liberation did not come easily. It was paid in blood of the liberators”.
Piotr Cywiński, director of the Museum in his speech expressed hope, that exactly a year from now, during the 70th Anniversary of the liberation, he will be able to announce, that thanks to unique engagement of international community, creation of the Perpetual Capital, which will ensure preservation of the authenticity of the Memorial, is completed. He will forward to the last former prisoners that “the relics of their hell – testimonial of a Man – are safer than ever before, thanks to the support of those governments and those people, to whom the future is not indifferent."
The second part of the ceremony took place at the Monument to the Victims of the Camp at the site of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. The rabbis and clergy of various Christian denominations have read together the Psalm 42 from the Second Book of Psalms, and after that participants of the ceremony placed candles by the monument honouring the victims of Auschwitz.
Until the liberation of the camp by the Red Army, the Nazis murdered in Auschwitz about 1.1 million people. Mostly Jews, but also Poles, Sinti and Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities. Today Auschwitz is the symbol of the Holocaust and the atrocities of World War II. In 2005 the United Nations designated the 27th of January the International Holocaust Remembrance Day..
The address of Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, the director of the Auschwitz Memorial, during the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Looks
It is impossible to look with serenity into those faces from the Auschwitz Album.
Children, teenagers, parents, grandparents, entire families.
A man.
Silent faces, yet so full of expression.
There’s no trace of fear in the eyes,
perhaps uncertainty,
but most of all - great regret.
And how not to feel that with looking into the SS officer’s lens
they reach us with their unspoken regret.
Our eyes meet,
beyond time and beyond death.
Their regret and our serenity are no longer reconcilable today.
How many of similar looks do they carry in their memories,
those Survivors who came here today, former prisoners of Auschwitz,
the largest German Nazi hell on Earth…
Thank you for your presence.
We look into the past and we hear your words.
We glance into the future and we fear the Great Silence.
Are we afraid of ourselves?
The future is not tomorrow or the day after.
It is today – in our hands.
If there is a necessary rite de passage
that every man and woman should complete,
this rite is walking through the remnants of Auschwitz.
Everyone should experience their own personal comprehension here.
Even more: they should also feel the burden
of their own present responsibility.
Led thus far, as if by hand, by the voices of the Survivors
we inevitably approach the age of our own maturity.
Today the world has to become self-reliant in its memory.
It is precisely by looking into those mute expressions from seventy years ago
That we realise the Great Silence won’t come.
We are too many and we know too much.
Great round seventieth anniversaries are coming.
In the spring embarked the biggest transportation in the history of the Third Reich
– the one of Hungarian Jews.
In little less than three months nearly 400 000 people.
Among them, in May, came nine-years-old Zeilig Jacob,
whose gaze captured on the ramp
became a known symbol of the Memorial Site.
In summer the SS liquidated Zigeunerfamilienlager,
67.000 Jews were transported to Auschwitz
from the liquidated Litzmannstadt ghetto.
At that time Warsaw was on fire and four big transports of the whole families
came to the same ramp from the Warsaw Uprising.
In autumn the Sonderkommando armoured rebellion took place.
Those events from 1944 designate
the calendar dates of our preparations for the big anniversary.
On this wintry January day next year
We’ll be celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the liberation.
We will then tell the Last Ones
that their words entered our conscience forever.
That their pain, similarly to the regret present on the victims faces,
has become the immanent part of our civilisation’s foundations.
We also assure them that the relics of their hell
– testimonial of a Man – are safer
than ever before,
thanks to the support of those governments and those people,
for whom the future is not indifferent.
A man has condemned men to this fate.
It is true.
And therefore only a man can save
others from such fate.
This is the ultimate lesson of Auschwitz.
This is the imperative of our times.
This it the mainstay of our humanity.
