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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom visited the Auschwitz Memorial
David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom visited the Auschwitz Memorial on December 10. The visitor was welcomed by the Museum Director, dr Piotr M.A. Cywiński.
Prime Minister Cameron visited part of the Museum’s exhibition, mainly Block 4 dedicated to the extermination of Jews carried by the Germans in Auschwitz and exhibiting, among others, the cans of Zyklon B used for the murders as well as the hair cut from women killed in gas chambers. He also visited Block 5 exhibiting personal possessions taken from the victims, such as: shoes, suitcases, glasses, children’s clothes or Jewish prayer shawls. He also visited the building of the first gas chamber and crematorium of the camp.
Fot. Paweł SawickiPrime Minister Cameron laid a wreath by the Death Wall at the yard of Block 11, where Germans carried shooting executions of prisoners. This way he paid tribute to all victims of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp.
„I wanted to come and see for myself this place where the darkest chapter of human history happened. Words cannot describe the horror that took place - making it even more important that we never forget, ” wrote David Cameron in the Museum’s commemorative book.
Fot. Paweł SawickiDuring the second part of his visit David Cameron went to the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, mainly the unloading ramp where the Germans carried out selections of the Jews deported to the camp as well as the ruins of the gas chamber and crematorium II. He also lit a candle at the monument commemorating the camp victims.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was accompanied by the members of the special commission appointed this year by the British Government to develop action recommendations to „make the Holocaust lesson present in the future generations’ awareness and significant for them".
In 2013 the Auschwitz Memorial was visited by more than 178 thousand British visitors. Great Britain is one of the 32 countries supporting the Perpetual Capital of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The British support amounted to 2.1 million pounds.
