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Auschwitz Museum prepares to mark 80 years since camp’s liberation

31.10.2024 21:30
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in southern Poland, which preserves the site of the former Nazi German death camp, is preparing to mark the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation next year.
Entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp with the infamous Arbeit Macht Frei (Work sets you free) sign.
Entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp with the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work sets you free) sign. Photo: CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)via Wikimedia Commons

Representatives from more than 20 countries are expected to take part in the commemoration in late January.

Addressing a recent meeting of the International Auschwitz Council in Warsaw, Piotr Cywiński, the director of the Auschwitz Museum, said that some countries were planning to send "top-level delegations" to Poland for the anniversary.

He promised, however, that the commemorative events would be "divorced from politics."

Dyrektor Państwowego Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau Piotr Cywiński Piotr Cywiński. Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski

"January 27, 2025 should be a day of remembrance and reflection, during which the key message will be delivered by Holocaust survivors," Cywiński said.

He added that all living former Auschwitz prisoners would be invited to attend the event.

The International Auschwitz Council provides advice to the Polish prime minister on the preservation of Holocaust memorials across the country.

More than 1.1 million people were killed by the Germans at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.

The victims were mostly European Jews, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet POWs and prisoners of other nationalities.

The camp was liberated by the Soviet army on January 27, 1945.

Photo: Photo: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum/EPA/www.auschwitz.org/HANDOUT

(mk/gs)