Marian Turski was born in 1926. He was imprisoned with his family in the Lodz ghetto as a teenager and deported from there to Auschwitz. He was 20 years old when he was liberated, in his own words more dead than alive, following the death march from Auschwitz to Theresienstadt. Speaking in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to Marian Turski as follows:

“It is with great pain and infinite gratitude that Auschwitz survivors in many countries are bidding farewell to their friend, brother and fellow sufferer Marian Turski, whose voice could be heard all over the world as a representative not only of their memories but also as the voice of their murdered relatives.

 As a journalist and contemporary witness, Marian Turski followed political developments with increasing concern right up to the last days of his life. He was deeply dismayed by the Europe-wide spread of anti-Semitic and far-right ideologies and the violent rhetoric with which the representatives of these ideologies have been attempting to radicalize young people in particular. In the last months of his life, Marian Turski was strongly driven by the words of Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi:

“It happened, therefore it can happen again.”

And yet, even in those days, hope was an integral part of his life principle. Despite his fears, he trusted that his fellow human beings would find ways to come together by challenging and overcoming all fears and agitation. Without Marian Turski, we are very much alone. But there is resounding strength in one of the last messages he formulated in his speech for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz at the commemoration ceremony on January 23 in Berlin:

“Our days, those of the survivors, are numbered. But we will not fall silent if you, all of you, do not remain silent.”

Link to the speech by Marian Turski (German)

Federal President Walter Steinmeier condoles on the death of Marian Turski (German)

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the death of Marian Turski (German)

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the death of Marian Turski (German)

Member of the Bundestag and Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Claudia Roth, on the death of Marian Turski (German)

Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on the death of Martian Turski (German)

Naftali Fürst, International Committee Buchenwald Dora and Commandos, on the death of Martian Turski (English)