67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Remarks by Janusz Chwierut, Mayor of Oświęcim

Respected former Auschwitz prisoners
and eyewitnesses to World War II,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sixty-Seven years have passed since the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp and the city of Oświęcim from German occupation. The enormity of the evil that people did to other people here during World War II endures in the collective human memory and should not be erased, so that it may never again be repeated. This is why we are here today with you, the former prisoners, to bear witness to memory and pay tribute to all the victims of a criminal system.
The victims need remembrance, and during each of these anniversaries we attempt to understand what seems difficult to grasp today. Auschwitz is a place that is unique and incomprehensible in the dimensions of the crime committed here!

This is what makes your presence—the former prisoners of the camps—and the meeting with you, the eyewitnesses to history, so important not only on occasions like anniversaries, but also with the younger generation in schools, the International Youth Meeting House in Oświęcim, the Center for Dialogue and Prayer, and the Jewish Center.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
As mayor of Oświęcim I cannot overlook the fate of the city and its residents during the Nazi occupation.

In October 1939, Oświęcim was incorporated into the German Third Reich under the German name Auschwitz. The local population was subjected to repression of many varieties. Despite this tragic fate and the unremitting danger to their lives and the lives of their families, the local residents did not shy away from undertaking heroic gestures and activity in the resistance movement. They aided in escapes by prisoners, sheltering them and serving as intermediaries in their contacts, but they also supported the prisoners daily, supplying them with food and clothing. Their heroism and attitude was a consolation, strengthening the hope and faith that, despite terrible sufferings and the omnipresence of death, victory over the criminal system was possible.

Many of these heroic residents never lived to see the day of freedom. Their valor is borne out by the accounts of the prisoners themselves and the highest state honors that have been awarded to them in recent years, even by the President of Poland himself.

It is a good thing that the Hospice Memorial to the City of Oświęcim and the Residents of the City, who aided the prisoners in the camp, has arisen here. This beautiful idea was the brainchild of former prisoners including August Kowalczyk, and it will be a lasting proof of our remembrance and tribute to the heroes of the city and the Oświęcim area who risked their own lives and those of their loved ones to aid the prisoners of Auschwitz.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
The message of the former prisoners of Auschwitz is of great value to us today, and a responsibility. Our task is to preserve it for future generations. May the events from the tragic history of Auschwitz to which it refers shield us from violence, cruelty, and extermination, at the roots of which lie the lack of respect and love for one’s neighbor.