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Auschwitz-Birkenau 80th anniversary of liberation. Speeches of survivors. Turski: Let's not be afraid to oppose conspiracy theories

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– Our thoughts should be directed to millions of victims who will never tell us what they experienced, what felt because they were consumed by the destruction – said Marian Turski, survived from the Nazi Auschwitz camp, during the celebration at the celebration of the 80th anniversary of his liberation. Tova Friedman said that “we all have a duty not only to remember, but also warn and teach that hatred raises more hatred.” Janina Iwańska and Leon Weintraub also took the floor.

The main ceremony took place in a tent set in front of the historic main gate of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. About three thousand people participated, including over 50 former prisoners.

Read: Three thousand participants, including 50 survivors. Celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Turski: Only a handful of us left

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They were welcomed by Marian Turski, survivor from Auschwitz and a member of the International Oświęcim Council.

– Today we are celebrating the International Day of Remembrance about the victims of the Holocaust. It is understandable, even obvious that people, media, turn to us, to those who survived, that we would share memories with them. But there was always a tiny minority, us, who went through positive selections in our time, were already very few. And those who lived to see freedom, completely little. Only a handful left now – he said.

– I think that our thoughts should be directed to the vast majority, to these millions of victims who will never tell us what they experienced, what felt because they were consumed by destruction – he added.

Marian Turski on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi camp Auschwitz-BirkenauPAP/Łukasz Gągulski

Turski mentioned that “a document, a poem that has been telling us about these people to some extent.” He told about Henryka Łazovert (Łazwertów), who was a Polish poet. – She was 33 years old, she was already a recognized Polish poet (…) as a Jewish woman she was sentenced to destruction. She had a chance to hide on the so -called Aryan side, but she didn't want to leave her mother. She wrote a letter, a poem to her friend – said Turski.

He quoted him: “I leave somewhere far away, to a stranger who is not on any map. At the station the sky hangs like a great black lid. The locomotive screams in the voice of a beaten man. Railwaymen have faces like paper. I have only one suitcase and with me One regret that nobody tried to explore.

After quoting the letter, he asked the gathered for the uprising and a minute of silence.

Turski: We see a great increase in anti -Semitism

During his further speech, Turski said that “we see in the modern world, today, now, a great increase in anti -Semitism.”

– And it was anti -Semitism that led to the Holocaust. Deborah Lipstadt called it “tsunami anti -Semitism”. And her courage, her persistence and perseverance in the fight against denying the Holocaust ended with a success after winning the trial in London with David Irving – he said.

– Let's not be afraid to show the same courage today when Hamas makes attempts to deny the massacre on October 7. Let's not be afraid to oppose conspiracy theories that everything that is bad in the world is the result of establishing conspiracy by indefinite social groups. And Jews are often mentioned here – he appealed.

– Let's not be afraid to talk about the problems that the so -called last generation torments. Although these young people violate our social order, our legal system, but the judge who issued the verdict said significant words: “Maybe today they are condemning tomorrow's heroes” – continued Turski.

– Let's not be afraid to convince ourselves that you can solve problems between neighbors. For hundreds of years on different continents various nations, nationality or ethnic groups lived and lived next to each other and among themselves. Mutual prejudices, hate, hatred led to armed conflicts between these neighboring nations and ethnic groups. It always ended in blood transfer – he said.

He added, however, that “there are fortunately positive experiences when both sides come to the conclusion that they have no other way to provide a calm, safe life to their children, grandchildren, future generations than to compromise.” – I will refer to two examples from Europe: Germany And the French, Poles and Lithuanians – he said.

– Let's not be afraid to convince ourselves that you need to have a vision not only of what is today, but what will be tomorrow, what will be in a few dozen years – he concluded.

The whole speech of Marian TurskiTvn24

Iwańska about the “Death Factory”

Janina Iwańska, deported to the camp in 1944 as a 14-year-old from Uprising Warsaw, also took the floor.

As she said, “it is difficult to even count exactly how many people in this camp were killed because most were registered, had their numbers, markings, but it was also that prisoners from other countries were brought and without registration, without anything was carried out directly to the chamber gas and crematoria “. – It is more or less important that about a million Jews were murdered in such a way that they were directly from the ramp to the gas chambers, but nobody knows how much they really died – she added.

She also talked about the moment of liberation of the camp. She said that “there were few people actually in this camp.” – The Germans were so perfidious that knowing that the front was approaching, they still fierce so that they decided to lead the prisoners out of the camp and lead to other camps, only people, children, children, pregnant mothers remained, said, she said.

She noted that Auschwitz was undergoing a metamorphosis – “from an ordinary prison to the death factory, actually the murder of people.”

The whole speech of Janina Iwańska

The whole speech of Janina IwańskaTvn24

Friedman: I knew … Even when I was five and a half years old

Tova Friedman, who during the occupation stayed with her parents in the ghetto in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, then in the labor camp in Starachowice, from where they and their mother came to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, pointed out that the participants of the ceremony came to mourn, remember and celebrate the memory of the Jewish nation brutally murdered by the Nazis. – We are also here to announce and swear that we will never, ever let story be repeated – she emphasized.

In her opinion, we should “awake our collective conscience to transform violence, anger, hatred and bad will, which so powerfully mastered our society, into a more humanitarian and just world before these negative forces destroy us.”

Survivor spoke about the first moments in the camp. – The sky was covered with smoke, a terrible stench hovered in the air, and around me there were rows of naked women. “What are they looking for?” I asked, standing naked and trying to avoid shimmering German shepherd teeth. “Diseases” – my mother replied. “If someone is sick …” She didn't have to finish. She pointed to dark smoke. I knew … Even when I was five and a half years old – she added.

She remembered one of the days in the camp. She watched the little girls from a nearby barrack, crying and trembling, marched to the gas chamber. – They were wearing rags, some didn't even have shoes and went barefoot on the snow. They were very young, they were maybe six or seven years old, but because of their hunger their bodies were shrunk and looked even younger. Only ashes remained after them – she said.

As she emphasized, at that time she was “a victim in a moral vacuum”. – Today, however, we all have a duty not only to remember, but also warn and teach that hatred raises more hatred, and killing more killing – she said.

Tovy Friedman's whole speech

Tovy Friedman's whole speechTvn24

Weintraub: Be allergic to any manifestations of intolerance

Leon Weintraub, 99-year-old today, one of the last living survivors from the Litzmannstadt ghetto (Łódź ghetto), a former prisoner of Auschwitz and other camps today.

– My mother and aunt Ewa were murdered in the gas chamber on the day of arrival at the camp. I went through the ramp selection. It was followed by a procedure for depriving us of humanity. Starting from dismantling to naked in the bath and taking personal things, by brutally removing all hair, often with the skin, which is terribly helling then when disinfecting the liquid with Karbol, and clothes in rags: pants, shirt, jacket and clogs. This is how we were degraded to one -time items – he said.

After a few weeks, he managed to get out of the camp. Unnoticed by Kapo and SS, he joined a group of prisoners chosen to work outside the camp. He came to Dernhau, the Gross-Rosen sub-camp, from where in February 1945 he was deported to KL Flossenbuerg in “Death March”, and later to subsequent camps. “I was liberated by the French troops in the Donueeschingen area on April 20, 1945,” he said.

Weintraub said that he felt great regret that “in many European countries, also in ours, they are marching with unpunished uniforms similar to Nazi and preaching Nazi slogans.” – These people are proudly called nationalists, but they identify with the ideas proclaimed by German Nazis and the ideology, which under the sign of a broken cross murdered those she considered “sublums”. This ideology (…) defines racism, anti -Semitism and homophobia as advantages. This happens in our country, which (…) suffered so much during the Nazi (…) occupation – he emphasized.

Survivor, he appealed to people of good will, in particular young people, that they would be “allergic to any manifestations of intolerance, reluctance to differing in skin color, confession or sexual orientation.” He pointed out that today it is difficult to distinguish “the need to appear from the intended and consistent policy.” Therefore – as he emphasized – you should be vigilant.

Leon Weintraub's whole speech

Leon Weintraub's whole speechTvn24

Source of the main photo: Łukasz Gągulski/EPA/PAP



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