TODAY IS HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

[Michael.]

World marks Auschwitz liberation

The site of the death camp has been preserved for posterity
World leaders are gathering in Poland on Thursday to mark 60 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious of the Nazi death camps.
The heads of state of both Israel and Germany will join those of Russia and other countries to remember the arrival of Soviet troops in 1945.

More than a million people, the vast majority of them Jews, were murdered in the Auschwitz "death factory".

Former inmates and Red Army veterans will lead a candle-lighting ceremony.

The anniversary will also be marked in Germany and Israel.

The BBC's William Horsley notes that since its liberation, Auschwitz has become a unique symbol of the evil that men are capable of, and a warning from history.

Poems from Auschwitz

The start of the ceremony will be signalled by a train whistle at the Auschwitz-Birkenau site where a railway track brought hundreds of thousands to their deaths.

Ecumenical prayers will be said as well as the Jewish prayer for the dead - the Kaddish - and the playing of a Jewish horn - the shofar - will bring the ceremonies to an end


Construction began in 1940 on site which grew to 40 sq km (15 sq mile)
At least 1.1 million deaths, 1 million Jewish
Other victims included Polish political prisoners, Roma (Gypsies), Soviet POWs, homosexuals, disabled people and dissidents
Of 7,000 Nazi guards, 750 were prosecuted and punished after the war

Six former inmates and three Soviet old soldiers will light the first candles at the main memorial there.

Following them will be Israeli President Moshe Katsav, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski.

Other world figures will include French President Jacques Chirac, US Vice-President **** Cheney and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

German President Horst Koehler is due to attend in Auschwitz but will not speak at the main ceremony in recognition of Germany's role as perpetrator of the Holocaust.

In Berlin, the German parliament will mark the anniversary with an address by a German-Jewish camp survivor, Arno Lustiger.

German poet and singer Biermann will then read out poems by a man murdered in Auschwitz.

'Some cried, some laughed'

One of the Red Army men due to attend the ceremony, Yakov Vinnichenko, told The Associated Press news agency of his impressions.

He and his comrades from the Soviet 322nd Infantry Division cut through the barbed wire and entered the death camp.

"How could people be tortured to make them so frail, skin and bones, that they could hardly stand on their feet?" the Ukrainian old soldier asked.

The Nazis had already evacuated most of their remaining prisoners and the 7,000 who were left behind were "those who couldn't move", the soldier recalled.

"Some were crying, some were laughing."

Anatoly Shapiro, then a veteran officer, recalled for Reuters news agency the horror the camp inspired in his men before they set about washing and feeding the survivors:

"We saw everything. The chambers used to gas the prisoners, ovens where the bodies were burned. We saw the piles of ash. Some of my men approached me and said 'Major, we cannot stand this. Let's move on'."

Thanks To BBC News For That

The Nazi Death camps were liberated 60 years ago today. The death camps we're created for 'Hitler's Perfect race'. Over 3 million Jews died. Please remember today. Woodeh.

[Janumz]

Its sad
Stupid Hitler
My Grandad survived, And he has gone there today.
RIP to all the people who died
Jane

[ramjet]

my grandma survived the war and i think at this time of gr8 sadness we shud remember all suffering in todays world. up to 15,000,000 (15 MILLION ) could have died and at one camp 1.5 million died imagine that. The fact is 15 million is nearly 4 times the population of ireland today is to remember all those feeling.

let us never forget those brave soldiers who thought for us

they are the real heroes

ramjet

[Michael.]

I'm half italian (I bet you didn't know!) but my grandpa, got put onto a camp just because he was Italian. It was ok though because soon after, the camp got liberated so he was ok!

[beforeandafter]

It is sad please everyone R.I.P But we have got to thank Hitler for our Inderpendance because If Germany won we would probaly be speaking German right now.

[Moose]

-=message deleted by person who posted=- sorry for double posting, MOD please delete.

[Moose]

auchswtiz was hell, and its not the holocaust celebration its the period when jews,homos,slavs,romas,gypsies etc etc were killed, who would celebrate the holocaust?