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Press Information published by the International Auschwitz Committee

15.03.2018

‘Because of Auschwitz’: survivors invite the new German foreign minister Heiko Maas to visit Oswiecim

 
 
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Auschwitz survivors throughout the world are grateful, and impressed by one of the new German foreign minister’s first position declarations saying he entered politics “because of Auschwitz”. The survivors are offering a warm welcome to the minister to visit the Auschwitz and Birkenau Memorial as soon as possible where, together with young people, he can gain a convincing impression of the outstanding work being carried out by the Polish administration and the colleagues at the museum. These are the people who are creating the basis that meanwhile enables more than two million visitors from around the globe to come to the museum each year. A large number of them are young people who also visit the International Youth Meeting Center which stands close to the former concentration and extermination camp and was financed by donations from Germany.

During a stay in Oswiecim/Auschwitz, the executive vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, commented on the minister’s remark saying:

"If a German foreign minister stresses that the memories and experiences associated with Auschwitz represent a key motivating force for him, then we expect him to make consistent and realistic efforts in a determined stand against anti-Semitism, right-wing extremist populism and the revival of nationalistic excesses.

The reference to Auschwitz at this present time is not simply a glance back at the past. It is in fact an alarm signal indicating how far various groups in European societies have distanced themselves from the experiences of Auschwitz in their moves towards renewed hatred and self-defined exceptionalism. One of the consequences that resulted from Auschwitz for the people who survived that place was to take the path to Europe whilst maintaining their own identity. The French-Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, Simone Veil, clearly named the cornerstones of this new Europe in her famous speech to the German Bundestag in 2004: ‘Civil courage, tolerance, respect for others and the transmission of memory’. It is in this spirit that the Auschwitz survivors expect Heiko Maas to be a strong ally in solving today’s problems."

 
 
 

For further Information

Christoph Heubner

Executive Vice President
International Auschwitz Committee
Phone ++ 49 (0)30 26 39 26 81