80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

January 27 marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Ştefan Stoica, 28.01.2025, 13:50

January 27 marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

In Poland, the country with the largest Jewish population before the Holocaust, ceremonies were held on Monday, January 27, marking eight decades since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. In the most famous of the death factories created by the Nazi regime, almost a sixth of the 6 million Jewish victims of the genocide perished. Polish President Andrej Duda said that his country guards the memory of the Holocaust so that such a human catastrophe is never repeated. 50 of the survivors, most of them between the ages of 80 and 90, took part in the ceremonies. Some of them returned to Auschwitz many times, and their message was always to tell people what happened and that these horrors must not be repeated.

Romania was represented by the Minister of Culture, Natalia Intotero. States such as Germany, Great Britain, France or Spain were represented at the highest level. In Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis sent a message stating that January 27, 1945 will forever remain the day in history when the darkest chapter was closed, with the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. “Those who managed to stay alive could testify to the whole world that hell was unleashed on earth, but also that the force of life finally defeated death. An unparalleled catastrophe, in which 6 million children, women and men were killed,” Iohannis said.

He recalled that January 27 is also the day on which Romania commemorates the suffering endured by the victims of the Bucharest Pogrom in 1941, when thousands of Jews were handed over to death by gangs of legionnaires (the far right). The president’s message also referred to the present. In his opinion, at the international level, populism, extremism, xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes and manifestations are insidiously disguised, with the intention of eroding the fundamental pillars on which the free world is built, in which fundamental rights play an essential role. The propagation of hatred, attacks, violent language and disinformation weaken democracies and risk making a mockery of the rights and freedoms so hard-won over time.

Romania, he said, has taken important steps towards honoring the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and the fight against anti-Semitism, by adopting robust legislation in the field and by developing memorial and educational projects that contribute to a culture based on fundamental European values. For his part, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu underlined the firm commitment of the Romanian Government to combat the anti-Semitic scourge and to promote the memory of the Holocaust victims. He also said that it is the duty of the authorities to ensure that Romanian society knows and does not repeat the mistakes of history. The Prime Minister participated, on Monday, at the Coral Temple in Bucharest, in the ceremony dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the commemoration of the victims of the anti-Jewish Legionary Pogrom in the capital.