Holocaust survivors gathered Monday, Jan. 27, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.
Over one million people, mostly Jews, were deported to Auschwitz, and nearly the same amount were murdered there.
The ceremony is considered likely the last major observance of Auschwitz’s liberation due to the survivors’ ages.
Soviet troops arrived at the camp in the late afternoon of Jan. 27, 1945, liberating 7,000 prisoners.
Tova Friedman, now 86, recalled the harrowing six months she and her mother endured at Auschwitz when she was merely five years old.
“I stood and watched helplessly as little girls from the nearby barrack were marched away crying and shiv
ering to the gas chamber,” she said. “They were very young, as I was, six or seven, but starvation shrunk their bodies, and they appeared even younger. They, too, became ashes.”
In an earlier interview, she recalled life after the war, noting a particular exchange between her mother and neighbor.
“The neighbor looks at her and says to her, ‘What are you doing back here? I thought Hitler killed you all,’” Friedman said – an encounter that foreshadowed years of continued bullying and harassment.
Friedman has dedicated her life to educating people about the atrocities of the Holocaust.
“I share this story, like many others who do, because we cannot forget all those innocent men, women and children who were slaughtered just because they were Jewish,” Friedman said.
Younger generations, she emphasized, must continue to acknowledge the past and remember those who suffered.
King Charles III was among the world leaders in attendance.
Stopping first at a community center, he gave a brief yet impactful speech located just miles from the site of the camp.
“It is a moment when we recall the depth to which humanity can sink when evil is allowed to flourish, ignored for too long by the world,” he said.
The responsibility to remember the past, he said, is on our and future generations’ shoulders.
“And this,” he said, “is the sacred task of us all.”
Holly Belmont can be contacted at [email protected].
