POLAND: Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and German President Christian Wulff mark Holocaust Remembrance Day at Auschwitz

Record ID: 1532202

  • Title: POLAND: Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and German President Christian Wulff mark Holocaust Remembrance Day at Auschwitz
  • Date: 28th January 2011
  • Summary: OSWIECIM, POLAND (JANUARY 27, 2011) (REUTERS) DELEGATION WITH POLISH PRESIDENT BRONISLAW KOMOROWSKI AND GERMAN PRESIDENT CHRISTIAN WULFF WALKING KOMOROWSKI AND WULFF KOMOROWSKI AND WULFF WALKING THROUGH AUSCHWITZ GATE WITH SIGN "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" YOUTH AT "WALL OF DEATH" DEATH CAMP SURVIVORS KOMOROWSKI AND SURVIVOR WLADYSLAW BARTOSZEWSKI PAYING RESPECTS KOMOROWSKI WULFF GERMAN DELEGATION AT "WALL OF DEATH" VARIOUS FLOWERS AT "WALL OF DEATH" VARIOUS "WALL OF DEATH" PRESIDENTS WALKING OUT THROUGH CAMP GATE PRESIDENTS AT MEETING WITH YOUTH (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) POLISH PRESIDENT BRONISLAW KOMOROWSKI SAYING: "There is no possibility of reaching reconciliation between two nations. There is no possibility of understanding each other unless both sides are able to experience the truth, when it is joyful but also incredibly painful." VARIOUS YOUTH (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN PRESIDENT CHRISTIAN WULFF, SAYING: "First of all I would like to thank all of those who have told their stories and have written endless numbers of books and documents over the past few decades, even though it must have been and must be extraordinarily difficult for you. And therefore you have managed to make sure that people can base their knowledge on this for the coming centuries and draw the correct consequences, that this should never happen again. That is a great achievement and I can only say thank you for that." KOMOROWSKI AND WULFF MEETING WITH YOUTH
  • Embargoed: 12th February 2011 10:11
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland, Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ZR8N8M8NWZUAY8QZV50TAV15
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and German President Christian Wulff took part in ceremonies marking Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday (January 27) at Auschwitz - the most notorious of Nazi death camps.
    The Auschwitz Museum is launching a campaign to raise 120 million euros for the maintenance cost of the historical site.
    Germany has pledged to pay 60 million euros over the next year into a fund for Auschwitz-Birkenau to preserve the barracks, gas chambers and other evidence of Nazi crimes at the former death camp.
    The concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland was the largest set up by Nazi Germany. Around 1.1 million Jews were killed there.
    Auschwitz was set up in May 1940 in an old Polish army barracks. The first victims were gassed in September 1941. Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, opened in October 1941.
    In 2010 the museum registered a record number of 1.3 million visitors.
    After visiting the camp, both presidents met with a group of youngsters who are learning the painful common history linking the two countries.
    "There is no possibility of reaching reconciliation between two nations. There is no possibility of understanding each other unless both sides are able to experience the truth, when it is joyful but also incredibly painful," Poland President Konmorowki told the students.
    The German president thanked the youngsters for learning so much about a subject he admitted it was 'difficult' for them.
    "You have managed to make sure that people can base their knowledge on this for the coming centuries and draw the correct consequences, that this should never happen again. That is a great achievement and I can only say thank you for that," Wulff said
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