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:

"The majority of survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps also experienced the end of World War II and their liberation from the hands of their murderers as a victory as well. And they firmly believed that, with the end of this war and the recognition of its horrors, suffering and crimes, Europe had overcome the age of wars. Now, towards the end of their lives, they are increasingly alarmed to be witnessing another insidious war of aggression in Europe full of lies and the destruction of innocent lives. It is cutting them to the core and casting them back into darkness."

And, speaking in Warsaw, Marian Turski, Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

"I was a prisoner in Auschwitz and survived two death marches. The last one was from Buchenwald to Theresienstadt. That is where Red Army soldiers, mostly Russians, brought liberation to me. My gratitude to those who freed me from the German camps will remain with me throughout my life. But can I remain indifferent, can I remain silent today, as the Russian army invades a neighbour and annexes its territory? Can I remain silent, as Russian missiles destroy Ukrainian infrastructure, houses, hospitals, schools, cultural institutions? Can I remain silent when I see the fate of Bucha, when I know how the Germans annihilated Michniów in Poland, Khatyn in Belarus, Lidice now in the Czech Republic, and Oradour in France?"