Welcome!
The International Auschwitz Committee is an association of Auschwitz survivors and their organizations. The International Auschwitz Committee unites organizations, foundations and Holocaust survivors from 19 countries. The office of the IAC is located in Berlin. The current president of the IAC is Auschwitz survivor Marian Turski, Warsaw.
- Professor Yehuda Bauer died on 18 October 2024 in a retirement home in Jerusalem aged 98. Photo: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Berlin, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
19.10.2024
Professor Yehuda Bauer, a great contemporary witness and Holocaust historian has died
Yesterday, Friday, Professor Yehuda Bauer passed away in a retirement home in Jerusalem at the age of 98. Yehuda Bauer was born Martin Bauer in Prague in 1926. At the last moment, on 15 March 1939, the day the German Wehrmacht invaded Prague, the Bauer family finally managed to leave on their long-planned emigration to Palestine.
- Holocaust survivors commemorate the victims of the 1944 uprising in Auschwitz and are horrified by the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023. Image: KGS/IAK Berlin
6.10.2024
80 years after the Sonderkommando revolt in Auschwitz: Holocaust survivors commemorate the victims of 1944 and are horrified by the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023
For Auschwitz survivors, on 7 October there is a terrible intermingling of memories past and present involving the threats and murderous violence to which Jewish people have been, and still are, exposed.
- IAK greetings for the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah 2024 (3-4.10.2024).
2.10.2024
Rosch Haschana 2024
To all the survivors and to all our friends all over the world, especially in these days:
A happy and peaceful new year: schana towa!
- Projection: FPÖ ahead in parliamentary elections in Austria. Image: Tagesschau.de
29.9.2024
Holocaust survivors are deeply concerned by the election result in Austria: strengthening of the FPÖ is an alarming signal, but they hope for democratic resistance
Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the first projections for the national elections in Austria:
- Thuringian state parliament, plenary hall. Photo: Lukas Götz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
26.9.2024
AfD exposes itself as a threat to democracy and the constitution in the first session of the Thuringian state parliament
Commenting on today's first session of the newly elected Thuringian state parliament, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:
- 2024 Brandenburg state election: Projection by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen. Image: ZDF
22.9.2024
Holocaust survivors are alarmed: AfD success in Brandenburg seen as a threatening signal - A call for the defence of democracy
Following the first projections for the state election in Brandenburg, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, stated during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial:
- Berlin, 17 September 2024: Arnold Schwarzenegger is awarded an honorary doctorate. Cornelia Woll, President of the Hertie School, welcomes Arnold Schwarzenegger as he arrives at the American Hertie School in Berlin, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the school. Photo: IMAGO/Matthias Gränzdörfer.
17.9.2024
Arnold Schwarzenegger is awarded an honorary doctorate at the Hertie School in Berlin
Auschwitz survivors around the globe are delighted and congratulate Arnold Schwarzenegger on being awarded an honorary doctorate by the Hertie School in Berlin today. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial:
- Anticipated results of the 2024 state elections in Saxony and Thuringia are deeply disconcerting for the survivors of German concentration and extermination camps. Image: tagesschau.de
1.9.2024
Anticipated results in the state elections of Saxony and Thuringia are deeply disconcerting for the survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps.
During a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the expected results of today's state elections in Saxony and Thuringia:
- The Polish town of Wieluń after bombing by the German Luftwaffe on 1 September 1939, the first day of World War II (photograph taken from an aircraft). Author unknown, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
31.8.2024
1 September 1939: Start of World War II. IAC warns against voting for right-wing extremists and Nazis whose ideology has already driven Europe into war and destruction.
Speaking during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial and marking tomorrow's commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Alberto Errera from Larissa, Greek Jew, naval officer, prisoner no. 18 25 52 in Auschwitz, was involved in the prisoners' uprising in Auschwitz-Birkenau. In the background: one of his photos, the only ones to document the Holocaust photographically. Alberto Errera was shot in early August 1944 at the age of 31 while trying to escape. Photo: Anonymous-Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image processing: KGS/IAK Berlin.
26.7.2024
In memory of Alberto Errera, the prisoner who documented the Holocaust in photographs.
Who was Alberto Errera? A Greek Jew, a naval officer, prisoner no.18 25 52 in Auschwitz and ─ unquestionably ─ a resistance fighter, a fearless hero.
- Members of the Allied forces in front of the cremation ovens in Majdanek (July 1944). Photo: Deutsche Fotothek, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6542483
23.7.2024
80th anniversary marking the liberation of Majdanek concentration and extermination camp
On the night of 22-23 July 1944, the Red Army liberated Majdanek camp near Lublin in eastern Poland. It was the first concentration and extermination camp to be liberated. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized this in Berlin:
- Courtyard of honour at the German Resistance Memorial, Stauffenbergstrasse 13-14, Berlin-Mitte. Photo: KGS/IAK Berlin
20.7.2024
80th anniversary of the 20 July 1944 uprising and the liberation of Majdanek concentration and extermination camp on 23 July 1944.
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the 20 July uprising and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Majdanek concentration and extermination camp, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized in Berlin:
- Symbolic image for French election. Image: IMAGO/ingimage
7.7.2024
Election forecast in France is an encouraging signal for Europe.
Commenting in Berlin on the election forecast in France, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Simone Veil (* 13 July 1927 in Nice; † 30 June 2017 in Paris) was a French politician and Holocaust survivor. From 1979 until 1993 she was a member of the European Parliament, and from 1979 until 1982 she was its president. Photo: La Libre, Collage: KGS/IAK Berlin
1.7.2024
Survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps are alarmed at the shift to the right in France
Commenting on the results of the first round of the parliamentary elections in France, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, stressed:
- Neo-Nazi demonstration by Die Rechte party in Bielefeld in support of Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck on 9 November 2019, the anniversary of the November pogroms in Germany. Photo: IMAGO / teutopress
27.6.2024
Holocaust survivors welcome the renewed conviction of the notorious Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck
During a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, welcomed the renewed conviction of the notorious Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck as follows:
- Still active as a journalist and IAC President, Marian Turski celebrates his 98th birthday. Photo: SCHROEWIG News & Images
26.6.2024
The International Auschwitz Committee congratulates its president Marian Turski on his 98th birthday.
Marian Turski was 14 years old when he was deported with his family to the Lodz ghetto. And he was 18 years old when he was deported from Lodz to Auschwitz on one of the last rail transports to leave the city. His father and brother were both murdered after selection.
Marian Turski survived two death marches and at the end of the war he was liberated − more dead than alive − in Theresienstadt. To this day he lives in Warsaw as a dedicated, active journalist and member of the editorial board of the weekly newspaper Politiyka.
- AfD MPs are clearly taking concerted action in several federal states against non-profit organizations with the aim of having their status revoked. This is made possible by an unclear legal situation. Image: KGS/IAK-Berlin
24.6.2024
IAC supports the urgent letter sent to the Federal Chancellor by democratic organizations concerning changes to the non-profit law in Germany
More than 100 associations and foundations have sent an urgent letter to Chancellor Scholz, because they see their position opposing right-wing extremism threatened by AfD interventions against the granting of non-profit status based on current non-profit law. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented decisively on this during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial:
- Gerhard Merz has died aged 71. He was an SPD Member of Hesse State Parliament, Chairman of the "Auschwitz Camp Community - Friends of Auschwitz”. Photo: 17 July 2014, plenary session in the Hesse state parliament. Imago/Huebner Ulrich
14.6.2024
IAC mourns Gerhard Merz, chairman of the Auschwitz Camp Community – Friends of Auschwitz.
During a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the death of Gerhard Merz:
- European flag with grim markings on the far right. Image: Envato Elements, KGS/IAK Berlin
10.6.2024
European election results are a ‘depressing turning point’
Commenting on the results of the 2024 European elections, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial:
- Geraldine Rauch, President of the TU Berlin. Photo: IMAGO/Funke Foto Services
7.6.2024
International Auschwitz Committee calls for resignation of TU President Geraldine Rauch
The Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, today addressed this open letter to the President of the TU Berlin, Geraldine Rauch, who yesterday refused to resign from office following her anti-Semitic gaffes.
- A landing craft from USS Samuel Chase, manned by the U.S. Coast Guard, unloads troops from the First Division of the U.S. Army on the morning of 6 June 1944 (D-Day) at Omaha Beach, Normandy. Photo: Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHOM) Robert F. Sargent, U.S. Coast Guard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Colouring: KGS/IAK Berlin
5.6.2024
80th anniversary of D-Day: Holocaust survivors around the world remember with deepest gratitude the Allied soldiers who defeated Hitler's Germany and gave them back their lives.
In mid-June 1944, more than half a million people from many European countries were being held in German concentration camps, tortured, humiliated and exploited as slave labourers. In mid-June 1944, it was mainly the freight wagons carrying Jewish families from Hungary that rolled into Auschwitz.
- 4 June 2024: Esther Sénot, a French-Jewish Auschwitz survivor, visits the French Embassy in Berlin to talk to schoolchildren from Potsdam and Berlin about her memories and experiences during the time of persecution, and deportation to Auschwitz. Esther Sénot was born on 15 January 1928 in Kozienice, Poland, and deported from Drancy to Auschwitz on 2 September 1943. Photo: IAK Berlin
4.6.2024
French-Jewish Auschwitz survivor Esther Senot visits the French embassy in Berlin
On 4 June, Esther Senot, a French-Jewish Auschwitz survivor born in Poland in 1928, was a guest at the French Embassy in Berlin. She was invited to talk with pupils from Potsdam and Berlin about her memories and experiences during the time of persecution, and deportation to Auschwitz, where her parents and one of her brothers were murdered in the gas chambers of Birkenau.
- Commemorative action of the International Auschwitz Committee (IAK). With the symbolic renaming of Joachim-Friedrich-Straße to Walter-Lübcke-Straße, we remember the democrat, German and European patriot and philanthropist Dr. Walter Lübcke, who was murdered by a neo-Nazi five years ago today. Berlin, 02.06.2024 Photo: Eva Oertwig / SCHROEWIG for the IAK
2.6.2024
Commemorative action of the International Auschwitz Committee in Berlin
The occasion is the fifth anniversary of the murder of the Kassel District President Dr. Walter Lübcke, who was literally executed in June 2019 in his home town near Kassel by well-known right-wing extremists because of his political views. At the time, the murder of the Kassel government president appeared to be the culmination of a hate campaign that had been deliberately stirred up and staged by right-wing extremists, neo-Nazis and representatives of the AfD in view of our country's willingness to help refugees.
- Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at the premiere of the film Klarsfeld: A love Story, at the 30th Filmfest Hamburg 2022 in the city’s Cinemaxx Dammtor. Photo: IMAGO/Andre Lenthe
26.5.2024
President Macron honours Beate and Serge Klarsfeld with a high award from the French Republic
Commenting in Berlin on tomorrow’s ceremony for the decoration of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld with a high award from the French Republic by President Macron alongside his state visit to Germany, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:
- Esther Bejarano (born Esther Loewy on 15 December 1924 in Saarlouis. Died on 10 July 2021 in Hamburg) was a German Jewish survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. She played in the Auschwitz women’s orchestra with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and others. Image: DW
23.5.2024
The Jewish girl learned how to play the accordion in Auschwitz concentration camp. It saved her life.
Thursday, 23 May 2024. Today the google doodle is celebrating the invention of the accordion. And we are celebrating Esther Bejarano. She was born in 1924 as the daughter of a Jewish cantor in Saarlouis. Her life was saved in Auschwitz by an accordion and a lie.
- Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia - Verdict pronounced in the proceedings initiated by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) against the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. View of the bench after entry of the court. In the middle (3rd from left) Dr Gerald Buck, presiding judge at the Higher Administrative Court. Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, DEU, Germany, 13 May 2024. Photo: IMAGO / Rüdiger Wölk
13.5.2024
Strong signal for democracy: Holocaust survivors grateful for ruling against AfD
In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on today's ruling by the Münster Higher Administrative Court in the case of AfD vs. the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV):
- Brandenburg Gate marking the end of the war, illuminated in blue with white text saying “Thank You” in Russian, English, French and German. Photo: ecns.cn
8.5.2024
Hope in challenging times: Holocaust survivors commemorate liberation on 8 May 2024 and appeal for a united, diverse and democratic Europe
Holocaust survivors remember 8 May 1945 as the day they were liberated from the concentration and extermination camps, and as the day when Nazi Germany was finally defeated together with its anti-Semitic, murderous ideology.
- Paul Benjamin Auster was born on 3 February 1947 in Newark, New Jersey and died on 30 April 2024 in New York. He was an American writer, film director, screenwriter, critic, translator and publisher. His works have been translated into more than forty languages. Photograph: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
1.5.2024
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to the writer Paul Auster who has died aged 77:
- Happy Passover 2024. Image: Envato Elements
22.4.2024
Happy Passover 2024!
We wish all our friends a happy Passover 2024: joy, hope, comfort and peace!
Chag Sameach!
- Christoph Heubner (centre), writer and Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee from Berlin, today became the first German to receive the Medal of Honour in Warsaw commemorating the Ghetto Uprising. Left: Piotr Wislicki, Chairman of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Right: Marian Turski, President of the International Auschwitz Committee. Photo: IAK
18.4.2024
Christoph Heubner, writer and Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, is the first German to be awarded the Medal of Honour in Memory of the Ghetto Uprising.
On the occasion of today's commemorations of the 81st anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Christoph Heubner, writer and Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, received the Medal of Honour in Memory of the Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw today. This is the first time that a German has been awarded this commemorative medal.
- Presentation of the Simon Wiesenthal Prize 2023: Marian Turski (left), Auschwitz survivor, President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Wolfgang Sobotka (right), President of the Austrian National Council. Photo: Parliamentary Administration/Johannes Zinner
13.4.2024
Simon Wiesenthal Prize for Marian Turski, President of the International Auschwitz Committee and Auschwitz survivor.
Vienna - At a moving ceremony in the Austrian Parliament, Marian Turski was honoured as an internationally respected dialogue partner and witness of the times for tirelessly combatting anti-Semitism. The award ceremony took place during the presentation of the Simon Wiesenthal Prize 2023, at which the dialogue project "LIKRAT - Let's talk!" was also honoured.
- Dr Mario Voigt, CDU, in the Thuringian federal state parliament. Photo: IMAGO/Jacob Schröter
11.4.2024
TV duel between Mario Voigt and Björn Höcke on today’s Remembrance Day for the Liberation of Buchenwald.
During a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial with German and Polish trainees, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on today's TV duel between CDU politician Mario Voigt and Björn Höcke of the AfD:
- Shoah survivor and life Senator Liliana Segre, who has been a member of the Association of the Ex Deportees (ANED) since 1958. Photo: ZEN/ANSA
28.3.2024
Golden Medal for Civil Merit to the Association of Italian political deportees from Nazi concentration camps (ANED).
With an official decree signed on March 28th, 2024, the President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, awarded ANED the Golden Medal for Civil Merit for its “outstanding work in defense of the values of the Constitution and the ideals of the Resistance against Nazism and Fascism. For the effort in the conservation of the historical memory of the ones who sacrificed for the cause with years of incarceration, confinement, internment and gave their own lives for the love of the Country and to guarantee freedom and democracy to the Italian population.”
- 19 March 1944: the German Wehrmacht occupied Hungary on Hitler’s orders (Operation Margarethe). Photograph: www.origo.hu
19.3.2024
80th anniversary of the German occupation of Hungary and the deportation of the Hungarian Jewish families to Auschwitz
Today, Auschwitz survivors around the world are commemorating 19 March 1944 when, eighty years ago, the German Wehrmacht occupied Hungary on Hitler's orders (Operation Margarethe). Also on that day, the SS managed to lay its murderous hands on the last remaining large group of Jewish people in Europe.
- Invitation to the reading by Christoph Heubner on 23.3.2024 in Leipzig. Photo: Nielsen, Schlachthof, Collage: KGS, IAK Berlin.
14.3.2024
Invitation to the reading by Christoph Heubner on 23.3.2024
The Förderverein für die Internationale Jugendbegegnungsstätte (IJBS) Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Polen e.V., the Wissenschaftliches Büro Leipzig, the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw), and the Erich Zeigner Haus e.V. invite you to a reading by Christoph Heubner on March 23, 2024.
- Thuringian CDU chairman Mario Voigt (left) Thuringian AfD top candidate Björn Höcke. Photo: dpa/Martin Schutt.
4.3.2024
IAC criticizes planned TV discussion between Thuringian CDU chairman Mario Voigt and Thuringian AfD top candidate Björn Höcke on 11 April
Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented in Berlin on the planned election campaign discussion between the Thuringian CDU chairman Mario Voigt and the leading Thuringian AfD candidate Björn Höcke on 11 April, the day of the liberation of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps:
- Invitation from the German Evangelical Church Community of Lisbon to a literary and musical remembrance of the Holocaust. Image: DEKL
2.3.2024
Invitation to a literary-musical remembrance of the Holocaust
The German Evangelical Church Community of Lisbon invites you to a literary-musical remembrance of the Holocaust with Christoph Heubner and the "Trio to RememBer".
- March 1, 2024 in the "Livraria Ler Devagar" in Lisbon: Literary-musical remembrance of the Holocaust with Christoph Heubner and the Trio to RememBer. Photo: Livraria Ler Devagar
1.3.2024
March 1, 2024 in Lisbon: Literary-musical remembrance of the Holocaust.
As part of their event tour in Portugal, Christoph Heubner and the Trio to RememBer visited one of the world's most beautiful bookshops, the "Livraria Ler Devagar" in Lisbon, on March 1, 2024, to commemorate the Holocaust through literature and music and to provide information about the work of the International Auschwitz Committee.
- February 29, 2024: Event organized by the German Evangelical Church Community of Lisbon at the German School of Lisbon "To Remembrance". Christoph Heubner (left), author, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, and Professor Irene Pimentel, historian and author specializing in the history of Portugal in the 20th century. Photo: Michèle Déodat, IAK Berlin
29.2.2024
Event "To Remembrance" at the German School Lisbon
As part of their event tour in Portugal, Christoph Heubner and the Trio to RememBer visited the German School Lisbon on 29.2.2024 to commemorate the Holocaust through literature and music in two events for pupils during the day and an open event in the evening and to provide information about the work of the International Auschwitz Committee.
- February 22, 2024, Déri-Museum, Debrecen, Hungary: The German Cultural Forum in Debrecen presented the Hungarian translation of the story collection by Christoph Heubner "Ich sehe Hunde, die an der Leine reissen"("Kutyákat látok, akik feszítik a pórázt" / I see dogs straining at their leashes). Photograph: János Miskolczi
22.2.2024
Book presentation in memory of the Holocaust survivor Éva Fahidi at the Déri Museum, Debrecen, Hungary.
The German Cultural Forum in Debrecen, Hungary, is presenting the Hungarian translation of the story collection by Christoph Heubner at the Déri Museum: "Ich sehe Hunde, die an der Leine reissen" ("Kutyákat látok, akik feszítik a pórázt" / I see dogs straining at their leashes).
- Presentation of the Hungarian translation of the story collection "Ich sehe Hunde, die an der Leine reißen" (Kutyákat látok, akik feszítik a pórázt / I see dogs straining at their leashes), by Christoph Heubner at the FUGA Budapest Center for Architecture. Image: FUGA Budapest Center for Architecture
21.2.2024
Book presentation in memory of the Holocaust survivor Éva Fahidi at the FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture
In his story collection "Ich sehe Hunde, die an der Leine reißen" (Kutyákat látok, akik feszítik a pórázt / I see dogs straining at their leashes), Christoph Heubner lends his literary voice to the victims of the Holocaust in three quite different forms of stories. The book was translated into Hungarian by Éva Fahidi and Zsuzsanna Iványi and published by the Wesley Verlag.
- Alexei Anatoljewitsch Navalny. Photo: pa/dpa/Alexej Navalny
17.2.2024
Marian Turski on the death of Alexei Navalny
In the tradition of our European civilization - Prometheus was the first to sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity. The recent one is Alexei Navalny.
- Ceremonial opening of the Gerhard Richter Birkenau Pavilion by Mrs. Sabine Moritz-Richter, wife of the artist, and Wolfgang Schmidt, Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs. Photo: Michèle Déodat, IAK Berlin
9.2.2024
Opening of the Gerhard Richter Birkenau Pavilion
A powerful signal against oblivion: In Oswiecim/Auschwitz the Birkenau Paintings by Gerhard Richter are now accessible to the public. The four world-famous works by the artist are being displayed in a pavilion built specifically for this purpose.
- German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Marian Turski looking together at photographs taken by the German military hospital nurse Helmy Spethmann in the Warsaw Ghetto. Photograph: Bundesregierung/Jesco Denzel
27.1.2024
taz interview with Marian Turski about ghetto photos
Marian Turski (98), President of the International Auschwitz Committee, and Chairman of the POLIN Museum Council, appeals to Germans to rescue Holocaust documents.
- Still from the Soviet film on the liberation of Auschwitz, recorded by the film crew of the First Ukrainian Front. Surviving children of Auschwitz stand behind a barbed wire fence wearing adult-size prisoner uniforms. Shown here in this picture: Tomasz Szwarz; Alicja Gruenbaum; Solomon Rozalin; Gita Sztrauss; Wiera Sadler; Marta Wiess; Boro Eksztein; Josef Rozenwaser; Rafael Szlezinger; Gabriel Nejman; Adek Apfelbaum; Hillik (later Harold) Apfelbaum; Mark Berkowitz (a twin); Pesa Balter; Rut Muszkies (later Webber); Miriam Friedman; and the twins Miriam Mozes and Eva Mozes with knitted hats. Author: Alexander Voronzov and others from his group, commissioned by Mikhail Oshurkov, head of the photographic unit of the First Ukrainian Front. Copyright: in the public domain of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, with kind permission from the Belarusian State Archives of Films, Photographs and Sound Recordings, via Wikimedia. Colouring: KGS/IAK Berlin
26.1.2024
79th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee made the following statement about tomorrow’s 79th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz:
- 19 January 2024: On the Jungfernsteig in Hamburg tens of thousands have demonstrated against right-wing extremism. The rally "Hamburg arise – against far-right extremism and neo-Nazi networks" was initiated by Entrepreneurs without Frontiers, the Northern Evangelical Church and the German Trade Union Federation (DGB). Photograph: ZDF.de
20.1.2024
A powerful signal sent out by the citizens and a boost for democracy
Commenting in Berlin on the numerous demonstrations against the far-right in Germany, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
13.1.2024
Invitation to Holocaust Remembrance Day in Wolfsburg on 24 January 2024
The City of Wolfsburg and the International Auschwitz Committee together with all participating organizations invite you to a commemorative event on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust.
Venue
Hallenbad-Kultur am Schachtweg
Wolfsburg
Date
Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Registration
Please send your registration by January 15, 2024 by email to
amelie.dahmer(iak)stadt-wolfsburg.de or by telephone on 0157 1047507.
- At the end of last year high-level AfD politicians, business representatives and right-wing extremists met in Potsdam to discuss the ‘remigration’, i.e. the expulsion, of millions of people from Germany. Politicians from the other parties are warning about the increasingly visible ties between the AfD and the extreme right-wing spectrum, and have condemned the meeting. Image: Wikipedia, booking.com, collage: KGS/IAK Berlin
12.1.2024
Holocaust survivors are appalled: right-wing extremist plans re-awaken grim memories.
Commenting in Berlin on the AfD’s participation in the discussion of right-wing extremist expulsion plans, Christoph Heubner, the executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Farmers protest on 8 January 2024 – A gallows with traffic light and federal German flag on nationwide farmers’ campaign day with demonstrations against the federal government’s current agricultural policy. Blockaded Juri-Gagarin-Ring in Erfurt Thüringia, Germany. Photograph: IMAGO/Paul-Philipp Braun
9.1.2024
Holocaust survivors are shocked at the brutalization of political dialogue and current strategies of extreme right-wing parties in Europe.
Commenting on the brutalization of political dialogue and the current strategies of extreme right-wing parties in Europe, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Petra (l.) and Franz Michalski (r.) during a reading from his book. The Shoah survivor Franz Michalski has died aged 89. Photograph: Jüdische Allgemeine, Maria Ugoljew
3.1.2024
Shoah survivor Franz Michalski has died
Franz Michalski died in Berlin just a few days ago. Together with his wife Petra, he was one of those tireless witnesses of the times in Berlin who gave accounts, especially to young people, telling about their memories and experiences in the years of National Socialist persecution, and about the anti-Semitic hatred that repeatedly confronted them and their family.
- According to his family, Dr Wolfgang Schäuble died on Boxing Day evening, 2023. Photograph: Eva Oertwig/SCHROEWIG
27.12.2023
IAC mourns the loss of Wolfgang Schäuble
In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to Wolfgang Schäuble as follows:
- From 1957 to 1993 the Dutch domestic security service was located in this red-brick building on President Kennedylaan in Den Haag. It was later demolished. Photograph: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/nieuws/2016/11/veiligheids--en-inlichtingendiensten-speelbal-van-verschillende-belangen, KGS IAK Berlin.
25.12.2023
Jewish Auschwitz survivors and the Auschwitz Committee in the Netherlands spied on by the forerunner of today’s Dutch domestic security service.
As late as into the 1980s, the Dutch domestic security service spied on Jewish Auschwitz survivors in the Netherlands, including their involvement in the Dutch Auschwitz Committee which was founded in 1956 and considered a ‘danger to democracy’.
- Witness supporter Ursula Wirth accompanies the witness Józef Kral. Józef Kral was born in 1910 in Wartogłowiec (now Poland). The Gestapo arrested him in Vienna in February 1940, and he was deported to Auschwitz at the end of June 1941. At his hearing as a witness in May 1964, Józef Kral was 54 years old and lived in Kraków, Poland where he worked as an architect. A total of 360 witnesses were heard in the course of the Auschwitz trials. 211 of them were Auschwitz survivors. Photograph: www.auschwitz-prozess-frankfurt.de/index.php
19.12.2023
60 years since the start of the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials on 20 December 1963
Today, Auschwitz survivors around the world are remembering the First Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial which began sixty years ago on 20 December 1963. In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Ceremony for lighting the Hanukkah candles, organised by Chabad Lubawitsch. The ceremony was interrupted by the MP Grzegorz Braun, member of the far-right monarchist party Confederation of the Polish Crown. He put out the candles with a fire extinguisher. Image: Imago/Adam Chelstowski / Forum
12.12.2023
Anti-Semitic attack by Polish Sejm MP Grzegorz Braun
Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, made a clear statement condemning today’s anti-Semitic attack by MP Grzegorz Braun in the Polish parliament during a Hanukkah celebration:
- Dairy billionaire Theo Müller owns, among other things, brands such as Müllermilch, Landliebe and Weihenstephan. For the first time, he now confirms a meeting with AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel. Image: imago images/Robert Michael
5.12.2023
IAC criticises indifferent wait-and-see attitude towards the AfD by large sections of the German business community
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the current debate about the indifferent wait-and-see attitude towards the AfD by large sections of the German business community:
- 28 November 2023: Presentation of the Charlotte Petersen Medal 2023 in Dillenburg. Left to right: Professor Sascha Feuchert (speaker), Michael Lotz, Mayor of Dillenburg, Christophh Heubner, author and Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Achim Wendel, Dillenburg city councillor. Photograph: Christine Bahl
28.11.2023
Christoph Heubner is awarded Charlotte Petersen Medal 2023
On 28 November 2023, Christoph Heubner, author and Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee was awarded the Charlotte Petersen Medal 2023 by the town of Dillenburg and the Society for Christian-Jewish Co-operation in Dillenburg. He received the award for his long-standing commitment to combatting anti-Semitism and right-wing radicalism, as well as for preserving the memories of the Holocaust survivors.
- 21 November 2023: This morning state-wide raids took place in Bavaria against people who are spreading hate speech and threats against Jews online. Police searched the homes of 17 suspects. Image: BR24
21.11.2023
Bavarian criminal investigation office launches police raids against anti-Semitic hate speech and threats targeting Jews online
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on today’s police raids initiated by Bavaria’s criminal investigation office and directed against anti-Semitic hate speech and incitement to violence on the internet:
- National Socialist boycott targeting Jewish businesses in Germany. Members of the SA put up posters on the widow of a Jewish shop in Berlin. The slogan: “Germans, fight back, don’t buy from Jews!” Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14468 / Georg Pahl / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE , via Wikimedia Commons
8.11.2023
Statement marking the 85th anniversary of the nationwide November Pogrom launched by the Nazis on 9 November 1938
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, made a statement in remembrance of the upcoming 85th anniversary of the November Pogrom, which started on the night of 9 November 1938. He said:
- Cologne, November 2023. The International Auschwitz Committee (IAC) awards the Statue of Remembrance, depicting the inverted B, to the artist Gerhard Richter in his studio in Cologne. Michèle Déodat (the artist who was inspired to design the statue), Marian Turski (President of the IAC), Gerhard Richter (artist), Christoph Heubner (Executive Vice President of the IAC). Photograph: Eva Oertwig/SCHROEWIG
6.11.2023
Gerhard Richter is honoured with the International Auschwitz Committee’s Gift of Remembrance Award
Berlin/Cologne. The International Auschwitz Committee (IAC) has honoured the Gerhard Richter as ‘artist, German, and as citizen’ by awarding him a statue of the inverted B in his studio in Cologne.
- The Anne Frank Day Care Centre in Tangerhütte, Saxony-Anhalt. Image: KGS/IAK Berlin
5.11.2023
Open letter on the planned renaming of the Anne Frank Day Care Centre in Tangerhütte, Saxony-Anhalt.
While visiting Magdeburg as the recipient of the Lothar Kreyssig Peace Prize, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Presentation of the Lothar Kreyssig Peace Prize 2023 awarded to Christoph Heubner (Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee - IAC) in the Johanniskirche church, Magdeburg, on 4 November 2023. Left to right: Superintendent Stephan Hoenen, prize winner Christoph Heubner, his spouse Michèle Déodat, Martin Kreyssig (Lothar Kreyssig’s grandson) Photograph: IAK /Eva Oertwig/SCHROEWIG News & Images
5.11.2023
Lothar Kreyssig Peace Prize for Christoph Heubner.
This year’s Lothar Kreyssig Peace Prize was awarded to the historian and writer Christoph Heubner in the Johanniskirche church, Magdeburg.
- Kurt Julius Goldstein, Jew, German, communist, Auschwitz survivor and honorary president of the International Auschwitz Committee, Berlin. Image: IAK Archiv 2004
3.11.2023
Street naming for Kurt Goldstein postponed by Dortmund-Scharnhorst district authority
A few days ago, following the intervention of an AfD representative and the petition of a CDU representative, the local assembly in Dortmund-Scharnhorst decided to postpone the planned naming of a street after Kurt Goldstein who was born in 1914 in Scharnhorst, was a resistance fighter against fascism and the Nazi regime, and honorary president of the International Auschwitz Committee. The reason behind the decision was to carry out an investigation into Goldstein’s political and personal life, and especially his life in the GDR.
- Bitterfeld-Wolfen Town Hall. Image: mdr.de, IAK Berlin, KGS
7.10.2023
Auschwitz Committee commends commitment to democracy in Bitterfeld-Wolfen
Commenting in Berlin on tomorrow’s run-off election for the mayor of Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Saxony-Anhalt, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Hamas launches massive attack on Israel. Image: Adobe Express, SCHROEWIG News & Images, KGS
7.10.2023
Hamas launches massive attack on Israel
In response to the massive attack by the Palestinian military group Hamas on Israel, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said in Berlin:
- Jewish refugees aboard a Danish fishing boat in 1943. Photograph: imago / United Archives International
4.10.2023
80th anniversary of the rescue operations for Danish-Jewish families
80th anniversary of the unique rescue operations to save the vast majority of Denmark’s Jewish families from deportation to German concentration and extermination camps.
- In the election for mayor in Nordhausen none of the six candidates has won the necessary 50-per cent of the votes. That is why there will be a run-off election between Jörg Prophet, AfD, and the current independent officeholder Kai Buchmann on 24 September. Image: mdr.de
18.9.2023
CDU election successes with the AfD in Thuringia unmask the ‘firewall’ as an empty hypocritical phrase.
Commenting on the political situation in Thuringia and the upcoming run-off election for the office of mayor in Nordhausen, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Greeting message from Mariam Turski, Auschwitz survivor and president of the International Auschwitz Committee on the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah. Image: Adobe Stock, Eva Oertwig/SCHROEWIG, KGS/IAK Berlin
14.9.2023
IAC President Marian Turski sends wishes for the Jewish New Year
My Dear Friends,
This year it is not easy for me to say the words of the traditional - known for centuries- Jewish New Year’s wishes : Shana Tovah U´metuka! It means: have a good and sweet new year! The most important thing I do wish to all of us is:
Peace! To our Nations, to Europe, to the World! The soonest - to Ukraine !
Your Marian Turski
Auschwitz-Survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee
- Eva Fahidi, Hungarian-Jewish Auschwitz survivor. Photograph: imago/ZUMA Press
11.9.2023
The Hungarian-Jewish Auschwitz survivor Eva Fahidi died this morning in Budapest aged 97.
It is with deep sadness, profound gratitude and greatest respect that Auschwitz survivors around the world are now bidding farewell to their fellow sufferer, friend and long-time companion, Eva Fahidi, who died today in Budapest at the age of 97.
- Born in Bonn and murdered in Berlin-Plötzensee on 7 September 1943: the pianist Karlrobert Kreiten performing in 1941. Photograph: Avi/Gilbert von Studnitz, KGS/IAK Berlin
6.9.2023
Remembering the pianist Karlrobert Kreiten who was murdered in Berlin-Plötzensee on 7 September 1943
He was 27 years old and was highly recognised as one of the greatest German talents when he was murdered by hanging from a meat hook, 80 years ago, on 7 September 1943 in Berlin-Plötzensee: the pianist Karlrobert Kreiten.
- On 24 September 2023 Christoph Heubner will be presenting the Polish translation of his book Durch die Knochen bis ins Herz at the International Youth Meeting Center in Oswiecim. The book is being published by the renowned Jewish publisher austeria wydawnictwo in Kraków under the title W samo serce. Image: KGS/IAK Berlin
6.9.2023
Invitation to the book presentation of W samo serce by Christoph Heubner on 24 September 2023
On 24 September Christoph Heubner will be presenting the Polish translation of his book Durch die Knochen bis ins Herz at the International Youth Meeting Center (IMYC) in Oswiecim. The book is being published in Kraków by the renowned Jewish publisher austeria wydawnictwo under the title W samo serce.
- Jacqueline and Jacques Bialek. Jacqueline is 22, her brother Jacques is 17 when they are murdered in Auschwitz. Image: Yad Vashem, KGS-IAK Berlin
4.9.2023
Remembering the Jews taken from the French Département de La Sarthe on Transport 59 to Auschwitz.
On 2 September 1943, at 10 am, a train carrying 1,000 Jews leaves Bobigny Station. More than half of the deportees are French citizens. Leutnant Wannenmacher is responsible for supervising the train.
- Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria’s deputy premier, economics minister, federal and Bavarian chairman of the right-wing populist Free Voters party (die Freien Wähler), is under pressure: Accusations surrounding an anti-Semitic leaflet have emerged just a few weeks before the state election. Photograph: IMAGO/Panama Pictures
3.9.2023
Aiwanger is causing significant political havoc and divisions in society
While in Oswiecim Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on developments in the anti-Semitic scandal surrounding the Bavarian politician and vice premier Hubert Aiwanger and his explanation strategy:
31.8.2023
Developments in the anti-Semitic scandal surrounding Hubert Aiwanger in Bavaria
Speaking during a stay in Oswiecim, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on developments in the anti-Semitic scandal surrounding Hubert Aiwanger:
27.8.2023
Anti-Semitic Aiwanger leaflet: IAC demands clarification and consequences.
Commenting in Berlin on the development of the anti-Semitic affair surrounding Hubert Aiwanger and the reactions of his party colleagues, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:
- Remembering Zofia Posmysz, Auschwitz survivor and author, who died one year ago just a few weeks before her 100th birthday in a hospice belonging to the city of Oswiecim/Auschwitz. Photograph: Pawelsawicki, Zofia Posmysz, excerpt by KGS / IAK Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0
22.8.2023
Remembering the author Zofia Posmysz on the 100th anniversary of her birthday
It is with great sadness and gratitude that Auschwitz survivors will be commemorating the life of the author Zofia Posmysz tomorrow, on 23 August. Their friend and fellow sufferer was born 100 years ago in Kraków. She died last year on 8 August 2022, just a few weeks before her 100th birthday in a hospice belonging to the Polish city of Oswiecim/Auschwitz.
- The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). The Cologne Administrative Court confirmed the designation of the party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the youth organisation Young Alternative for Germany (JA) as an object under observation (suspicious case). Photograph:xC.xHardtx/xFuturexImage, KGS/IAK Berlin
4.8.2023
IAC warns about growing influence of the AfD and thanks the president of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution for standing up against right-wing extremist threats.
Commenting in Berlin on the political development of the AfD and the statements by Thomas Haldenwang, the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Memorial in Berlin to the Sinti and Roma of Europe who were murdered under National Socialism. Photograph: imago images/Christian Spicker
2.8.2023
European Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the persecution and murder of Sinti and Roma in the German concentration and extermination camps.
Today, Holocaust survivors around the globe are marking the European Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the persecution and murder of Sinti and Roma in the German concentration and extermination camps. In Berlin Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee paid tribute as follows:
- Rachel Abadie, née Habib, was born in 1910 in Marseille, France, and lived there before World War II. Rachel was murdered during the Shoah. Image: Yad Vashem.
30.7.2023
Commemoration of Transport No. 58 from Drancy to Auschwitz
In Paris tomorrow, July 31, Holocaust survivors will commemorate Transport No. 58, which left the camp of Drancy near Paris 80 years ago - on July 31, 1943 - in the direction of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
- CDU leader Friedrich Merz supports the firewall against the AfD – except at local political level. Photograph: IMAGO/dts Nachrichtenagentur
23.7.2023
Nobody intends to tear down a wall.
Commenting on today’s statements by CDU leader Friedrich Merz on collaborating with the AfD at local political level, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- In Oswiecim/Auschwitz construction has started on a unique artistic ensemble that focuses on the events of the Holocaust and is designed by the artist Gerhard Richter. Image: Gerhard Richter / IAK Berlin
12.7.2023
Construction starts on the exhibition hall ‘Gerhard Richter: Birkenau’. An impressive art project close to Auschwitz as a warning to never forget.
Construction has started on the Gerhard Richter Exhibition Hall in Oswiecim, Poland. The building, designed by the artist himself, is being developed in the grounds, and in co-operation with, the International Youth Meeting Center in Oswiecim/Auschwitz.
- The Italian delegates to the International Committees of the former Nazi concentration camps felt it necessary to openly express their dissatisfaction with what is happening in the heart of Europe in a declaration. The statement summarizes their concerns about the future of Europe. Image: IAK Berlin
11.7.2023
Statement of the Italian delegates of the International Committees of Former Nazi Concentration Camps.
The testimonies that the second and third generation delegates collected from the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps do not only contain the memory of their deportation and the recollection of the places where they so tragically suffered. They are also a pressing and ardent call to renounce all wars and to work towards a future marked by humanism and solidarity among peoples.
- Sea Watch 2 on its 13th search and rescue mission off the Libyan coast. Around 160 refugees on an overcrowded inflatable boat, 21 October 2016. Photograph: Imago/Christian Ditsch
20.6.2023
Auschwitz survivors appeal to Europe on World Refugee Day: Remember the tragedies at sea and open your eyes and your hearts!
Today, on World Refugee Day, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said while at the Auschwitz Memorial:
- Christoph Heubner, IAC Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee. Photo: IAC Berlin
13.6.2023
Invitation to IAC press conference on 16 June 2023, 11 am, German Resistance Memorial Center, Stauffenbergstr.13, 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten
The survivors of the Holocaust are not alone in feeling alarmed and disturbed by the drastic rise in support shown in current surveys for the AfD and their extreme right-wing slogans. Time and again in German cities there are violent attacks directed against ‘foreigners’, and anti-Semitic sentiments are now widespread within mainstream society. Throughout the country there is a sense of helplessness as to how the democratic parties should confront this dramatic development in society.
- Election survey results from 1 June 2023 - Infratest dimap for ARD. Image: @Wahlen_DE
5.6.2023
On the AfD gaining strength in Germany and the result of the election for mayor in Schwerin
In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on the growing strength of the AfD in Germany and the associated developments at local level:
- 13 June 2019, Kassel, memorial service at St Martin’s Church for the murdered District President Dr Walter Lübcke. The Minister President of Hesse, Volker Bouffier, pays tribute to the murdered representative. Image: imago images/Hartenfelser
2.6.2023
4 years since the murder of Walter Lübcke on 2 June 2019
On the fourth anniversary of the murder of Walter Lübcke on 2 June 2019, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said in Berlin:
- Thomas Buergenthal, Holocaust survivor, retired judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Professor at the George Washington University Law School, delivers keynote address at the United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York on 31 January 2018. United Nations. Photograph: imago images/Wang Ying/Photoshot
31.5.2023
Auschwitz survivor Thomas Buergenthal dies aged 89
It is with profound sorrow, heartfelt appreciation and the greatest respect that Auschwitz survivors throughout the world are bidding farewell to Thomas Buergenthal who survived Auschwitz as one of the few remaining Jewish children. In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute as follows:
- 11 May 1960: After agents from the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad had captured Eichmann in a suburb of Buenos Aires, they swiftly took him to a hidden location. During his interrogation Eichmann admitted to his true identity and signed a document in which he agreed to stand trial in Israel. Eleven days later he was secretly flown to Israel in an EI AI aircraft. Photoraph: yadvashem.org
12.5.2023
Capture and abduction of Adolf Eichmann 63 years ago on 11 and 12 May 1960
While at the Auschwitz Memorial Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented as follows on the present-day significance of Adolf Eichmann’s capture and abduction 63 years ago on 11 and 12 May 1960:
- 10 May 1933: At a mass event at Opernplatz (Bebelplatz) in Berlin, German students from the city’s universities publicly burn ‘un-German’ books and writings that they have confiscated. Photograph: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-14597 / Georg Pahl /CC-BY-SA 3.0 via Wikipedia
10.5.2023
90th anniversary of Nazi book burning ritual launched on 10 May 1933
While at the Auschwitz Memorial, and speaking on the 90th anniversary of the Nazi book burning ritual launched on 10 May 1933, Christoph Heubner, author and Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- 9 May, at 16 minutes past midnight: signing of the Act of Surrender by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of Armed Forces High Command, General-Admiral von Friedeburg, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff representing the air force (Luftwaffe). Signatories on the Allied side were Marshal Georgy Zhukov on behalf of the Supreme High Command of the Red Army, and three representatives of the American, British and French Allied Forces. This marked the official end of World War II.in Europe. Photograph: Imago/Leemage
8.5.2023
As a new war in Europe rages, the world remembers the end of World War II on 8 and 9 May 1945
Speaking while at the Auschwitz Memorial on today’s Remembrance Day marking the end of World War II, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Picture credits: Drawing by witness Jerzy Fójcik, according to his own testimony a car mechanic at the "Sonderkommando Kulmhof" until May 1943, IPN Warsaw (Sign. GK_165_271_3_0004) - Berlin-Neukölln, 1954: Entrance gate to the factory premises of Gaubschat Fahrzeugwerke GmbH, which had produced superstructures for gas vans during the war, Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin
8.5.2023
INVITATION to the lecture SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF MURDER - THE "GASWAGEN": 1939 - 1945, LECTURE IN ENGLISH on 11.5.2023 6 pm.
The Foundation for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and Tiergarten4Association invite you to a lecture in English:
THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING OF MURDER – THE NAZI GAS VANS: 1939 – 1945
- 28 April 2023: At the Leipzig Book Fair IAC Executive Vice President Christoph Heubner reads from his new book ‘Als Wir die Maikäfer waren’ (When we were the Maybugs). Image: Michèle Déodat
28.4.2023
IAC Executive Vice President Christoph Heubner reads at the Leipzig Book Fair
There was lively interest today when IAC Executive Vice President Christoph Heubner read from his new book ‘Als Wir die Maikäfer waren’ (When we were the Maybugs). It is the final volume in his trilogy of Auschwitz stories published by the Steidl Verlag. And this is the first time that the IAC has been represented at the Leipzig Book Fair:
27 to 30 April, Hall 4 Stand A 303.
- Neuruppin District Court. On 28 June 2022 the district court in Neuruppin sentenced Josef Schütz to 5 years imprisonment for aiding and abetting murder and attempted murder. Image: Website of the District Court Neuruppin
27.4.2023
Former concentration camp guard Josef Schütz dies aged 102 before final decision on prison sentence
Whilst at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on the death of the former SS guard Joseph Schütz as follows:
- Roger Waters during the "This Is Not a Drill" tour. Chicago U.S. Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
25.4.2023
Antisemitism accusations: Administrative court allows Roger Waters performance in Frankfurt
Not only Jewish survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps are once again deeply saddened, horrified and increasingly disillusioned by the Frankfurt Administrative Court decision on the upcoming performance by British singer Roger Waters at the Frankfurter Festhalle.
- Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, during his speech delivered in Warsaw on 19 April 2023 at the state ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Image: Spiegel Online
21.4.2023
Marian Turski's speech marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Speech delivered on 19 April 2023 in Warsaw by Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, at the state ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: a photograph from the report by Jürgen Stroop to Heinrich Himmler from May 1943. Report title: The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw Is No More! Original photo caption: Forcibly pulled out of bunkers. Suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ─ captured Jews are led by German Waffen-SS troops to the assembly point for deportation. Photograph: IMAGO/Reinhard Schultz
18.4.2023
80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on 19 April 1943
To mark the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the presidents of Poland, Israel and Germany, Duda, Herzog and Steinmeier, will attend the state ceremony in Warsaw together. They will meet there with Marian Turski, the Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, as well as Stanislaw Zalewski, Polish survivor of Auschwitz and further survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps.
- The March of the Living (Hebrew מצעד החיים Mitzad HaChajim) is a walk of remembrance from Auschwitz I concentration camp to Birkenau extermination camp. Since it was founded in 1988, more than 300,000 participants from 50 countries have taken part on Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day – in memory of all the victims of the Holocaust and walked together along the 3-km-long path from Auschwitz to Birkenau. Image: facebook.com/MOTLorg
16.4.2023
35th anniversary of the March of the Living on 18 April in Oswiecim/Auschwitz with trainees from Emden, Wolfsburg and Osnabrück.
Since 1988 more than 300,000, mostly Jewish, young people from around the world have taken part in the March of the Living, walking in a column along the three-kilometre-long path from Auschwitz I concentration camp to Birkenau extermination camp. This walk of remembrance is dedicated to the memory of those murdered in Auschwitz, and in honour of the survivors.
- The last surviving chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials has died. Benjamin Ferencz was 103 years old. imago/ZUMA Press
9.4.2023
Benjamin Ferencz, chief prosecutor in the Einsatzgruppen Trial and subsequent Nuremberg Trials, has died
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to Benjamin Ferencz who has died at the age of 103:
- The International Auschwitz Committee will present itself at the Leipzig Book Fair from April 27 to April 30, 2023 in Hall 4, Stand A 303. Image: Leipzig Book Fair
24.3.2023
The International Auschwitz Committee will present itself for the first time at the Leipzig Book Fair from 27 to 30 April 2023 in Hall 4, Stand A 303.
For the first time ever, the International Auschwitz Committee will be taking part in the Leipzig Book Fair. It will be presenting books and brochures from its work which focus on the memories, feelings and experiences of Holocaust survivors told after their liberation and also reflecting their later ‘second ‘lives’.
- The International Auschwitz Committee is urging Twitter and Elon Musk to take decisive steps against the alarming increases in anti-Semitic tweets since its takeover in October 2022 and to strictly adhere to EU laws. Image: IMAGO/NurPhoto
23.3.2023
International Auschwitz Committee urges Elon Musk to rid Twitter of anti-Semitic smears and hatred.
Whilst at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on press reports about the massive increase in anti-Semitic contents on Twitter following its takeover by Elon Musk:
- Governor of Lower Austria and ÖVP leader Johanna Mikl-Leitner with Udo Landbauer, head of the far-right FPÖ of Lower Austria and heavily criticized for an anti-Semitic songbook published by his fraternity. They are negotiating for a coalition. Image: ORF.at
18.3.2023
International Auschwitz Committee horrified that ÖVP is making the far right socially acceptable
Following the state election in Lower Austria, the country’s geographically largest state, a coalition is currently emerging between the ÖVP and an FPÖ in which has accommodated leading representatives of far-right and anti-Semitic attitudes for many years.
- Jewish Cemetery, Kraków: Henri Goldberg, who survived the Holocaust by hiding in Belgium as a child, stands in front of the grave of Maria Orwid. She was one of the first psychologists in Europe to work with traumatized children and young people who had survived the Holocaust. Image: Hannah Lessing/IAC Vienna
12.3.2023
80th Memorial Day in remembrance of Kraków Ghetto liquidation
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the final liquidation of Kraków Ghetto, on 13 March 1943, and the deportation of the last remaining Jewish prisoners to Plaszow and Auschwitz concentration camps, the Presidium of the International Auschwitz Committee gathered for a meeting in Kraków.
- VW trainees involved in conservation work at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. Image: Karl Lehmann / IAC Berlin
3.3.2023
International Auschwitz Committee and Volkswagen AG renew project work with trainees at Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.
The International Auschwitz Committee and Volkswagen AG have started working together again. They are holding a preparatory seminar in Hanover as the conservation project with trainees at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial gets underway again following the interruption caused by the Covid pandemic.
- 21 February 2023: The Berlinale awards Steven Spielberg the Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement. Image: SCHROEWIG, Collage KGS/IAC Berlin
21.2.2023
Steven Spielberg receives Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
Speaking in Berlin on today’s Berlinale award of the Honorary Golden Bear for Steven Spielberg, Christoph Heubner, Excutive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- The successful historical drama series of the Greek channel ERT, "The Bracelet of Fire", recalls the fate of the Jews of Thessaloniki". It is based on the book of the same name by Béatrice Saias-Magrizou. Image: ERT, Collage: KGS/IAC Berlin
20.2.2023
TV series about a family in the Holocaust moves millions
"The Bracelet of Fire" tells the shocking story about Jewish people as it has never been told in Greece.
- Prevent upcoming appearance of QAnon propagandist Friedemann Mack in Falkensee town hall in Brandenburg. Image: imago/Steinach, Collage: KGS/IAK Berlin
15.2.2023
Prevent upcoming appearance of QAnon propagandist Friedemann Mack in Falkensee town hall!
Commenting in Berlin on the upcoming appearance of QAnon propagandist Friedemann Mack in Falkensee town hall, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee stressed:
- Potsdam Germany, 21 March 1933. Handshake at official meeting of Chancellor Adolf Hitler and President Paul Ludwig von Hindenburg at the opening ceremony of the Reichstag held in the Garrison Church in Potsdam. Image: imago images/Leemage
13.2.2023
IAC calls for change in Germany’s remembrance culture
These days mark the 90th anniversary of the time when the Nazis took over power in Germany on 30 January 1933 and then promptly destroyed the foundations of democracy in civil society in the following few weeks of February and March 1933.
- Demonstration against the AfD on 15 May 2021 in Siegen/Germany. Image: IMAGO / Rene Traut
6.2.2023
Ten years of AfD: Increasingly radical
Commenting in Berlin on the 10-year existence of the AfD as a far right extremist party in Germany, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee stressed:
- Der Angriff - Das deutsche Abendblatt, Berlin 30 Jan.1933: National Socialistt seizure of power in Germany. Image: Mabit1, evening edition of Der Angriff, CC BY-SA 4.0
30.1.2023
90 years since so-called seizure of power by National Socialists in Germany
While in Chemnitz, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, gave a statement on the 90th anniversary of the so-called seizure of power by the National Socialists in Germany:
- Surviving Jewish children in Auschwitz with nurses. The photograph was taken by a Soviet photographer while making a film about the liberation of the camp. Image: IMAGO / Reinhard Schultz, Collage: KGS / IAC Berlin
26.1.2023
78th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz and International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, issued an emphatic statement marking the 78th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz and the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust on 27 January:
- 23 January 2023, in Warsaw the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda (left), awards Marian Turski the Cross of Officer of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. Image: Leszech Zych / Polityka
25.1.2023
78th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz and International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
Marian Turski, Auschwitz survivor, President of the International Auschwitz Committee, long-standing head of the historical section of POLITYKA and Chairman of the International Museum Council at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, was awarded the Cross of Officer of the Order for Merits to Lithuania on 23 January.
- The Kaunas Ghetto Orchestra with Alexander Stupel (front row left) certainly surrounded by his siblings Bori Stupel and Sonia Abramson. Ca. 1941-1944. Photo: © Shoah Memorial via UNESCO
14.1.2023
UNESCO Invitation to the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
The invitation includes the following events:
Commemoration Ceremony
on January 26, 2023,
Exhibition "There was a time... Jewish Family Photographs before 1939"
January 17 - February 10, 2023,
Worldwide screening of Ari Folman's "Where is Anne Frank!" by UNESCO field offices.
Read more ...
- Prof. Felix Kolmer, Czech-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee. Born in Prague in 1922, Prof. Felix Kolmer died in Prague on Aug. 5, 2022. Image: memoryofnations.eu, IAC Berlin
10.1.2023
Invitation to the commemoration evening of Felix Kolmer, the man who made us all better.
The Embassy of the Czech Republic, Berlin and the International Auschwitz Committee cordially invite you to the commemoration evening of Prof. Felix Kolmer.
The commemoration evening will take place on
Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 6 p.m.
Venue:
Cinema Hall of the Czech Embassy,
Wilhelmstr. 44,
10117 Berlin.
- Invitation to the LIVE-STREAM of the commemoration ceremony on 22.1.2023. Image: Lukasz Giza
10.1.2023
Invitation to online-event: Matinee in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
78th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz
The commemoration event will take place on:
Sunday, January 22, 2023
11:00 a.m.
To the live stream of the commemoration ceremony on Jan. 22, 2023.