- Title: POLAND: Auschwitz hosts thousands in Holocaust memorial
- Date: 22nd April 2009
- Summary: MARCH PARTICIPANTS WALKING THROUGH CAMP GATE
- Embargoed: 7th May 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Poland
- Country: Poland
- Topics: International Relations,History
- Reuters ID: LVA92Q8ZXQ72J9SO4C9S5TCB3UUL
- Story Text: Up to 7,000 people, most of them Jews, marched from Auschwitz to the crematoria of Birkenau in southern Poland on Tuesday (April 21) to pay tribute to the millions murdered by the Nazis during World War Two.
Standing beneath the notorious sign "Arbeit macht frei" (Work will set you free) at the entrance to the camp, many of the marchers waved Israeli flags and carried signs with the names of their hometowns.
They made their way to Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi concentration camps which is located in the Polish town of Oswiecim, where they lit candles and laid wreaths.
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom also attended the ceremony and used the visit to lament a rise in anti-Semitism worldwide.
He also urged Jews and their supporters to show unity in the face of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent verbal attacks against Israel.
"Sixty-four years after, we still have to deal with prejudice, with hate, with those that are trying to do everything they can in order to destroy the Jewish state," Shalom told participants in the annual March of the Living.
Many marchers had their own reasons for keeping the memory of the concentration camps alive.
"I feel that after all the death, six million people dying, it's important to come back to remember them. I personally lost a lot of people from my family here in Auschwitz, so Im here to honour them. And I think it means, seeing all these people means that we haven't forgotten and I don't think we will anytime soon," said Josh, a participant who had travelled from Brazil.
Other, older participants had first-hand knowledge of the site's history.
"Respect and memory bring me here. I was brought here together with a family of 49, my father, little sister, grandmother. I am the only survivor," said Auschwitz survivor Gezda Spirer.
The Russians liberated Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis murdered 1.5 million men, women and children, including more than 1 million Jews. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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