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Press Information published by the International Auschwitz Committee

14.06.2018

In remembrance of first transport of Polish prisoners to Auschwitz: the IAC and trainees from Poland and Germany laid wreaths

 
 
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Today Poland officially remembered the first transport of Polish prisoners to the infamous German concentration camp of Auschwitz who arrived there on 14 June 1940. Representatives from politics, churches, organizations and the families of the prisoners laid flowers and wreaths in memory of their murdered relatives. The ceremony was also attended by trainees from Volkswagen in Braunschweig and Salzgitter who had already been at the Memorial for ten days together with school students from Bierun in Poland. The young people had been carrying out preservation work to help maintain the memorial sites in Auschwitz and Birkenau.

On behalf of the International Auschwitz Committee, the trainees Lea Langsdorf (Salzgitter), Dogay Kilic (Braunschweig) and Natalia Kapek (Bierun) laid a wreath together with Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the IAC, in memory of all of the victims at the Death Wall of the camp’s Block 11. For Dogay Kilic, 22, it was an ‘invaluable experience and a great honour’ to take part. And Lea Langsdorf, 21, added: ‘This wreath laying ceremony was a very emotional moment. Seeing the relatives of the victims and their grief, that really touched me deeply. These intense minutes made me feel especially close to the Polish colleagues in our group.’

Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, thanked all of the young people on behalf of the Auschwitz survivors for their involvement and stressed: ‘In times when the official relationship between German and Polish people is often tense, your mutual experiences and involvement as young Polish and German people are especially valuable. I am grateful that Volkswagen repeatedly makes these experiences possible. Your involvement against anti-Semitism, hatred and intolerance, and for friendship between German and Polish people is urgently needed especially after these experiences in Europe.’

 
 
 

For further Information

Christoph Heubner

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