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.
- 16.6.2023: Presentation of the model of the sculpture "A Bench for Justin Sonder" at the German Resistance Memorial Center in Berlin by Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President International Auschwitz Committee, and Rostock sculptor Julia Kausch. Photo: Eva Oertwig /SCHROEWIG/IAK
23.6.2023
Donation appeal for IAC project: A bench for Justin Sonder
The survivors of the Holocaust are also asking themselves about the level of awareness that their educational and remembrance efforts have actually produced over the past decades. In this respect the Chemnitz Auschwitz survivor, Justin Sonder, spoke on behalf of them all in one of his last accounts of his memories, which he delivered in 2020 under the title ‘What have I achieved?’
A major response to Justin Sonder’s question can be seen in the many initiatives by Holocaust survivors to utilize public space as remembrance space, and not to abandon it to the rantings and hate speech of right-wing extremism.
This too is reason enough for the International Auschwitz Committee remember Justin Sonder in Chemnitz. He was born there into a Jewish family in 1925 and, after his liberation from Auschwitz and other camps, was one of the few German Jews to return directly to his home town: he didn’t want to relinquish Chemnitz to the Nazis and their legacy. And this needs to apply equally after Justin Sonder’s death in 2021. Especially in Chemnitz, the European Capital of Culture 2025, which is a recurring focal point of xenophobic, anti-Semitic and extreme far-right incidents.
It is to this city that we are donating a bench, on which Justin Sonder is sitting with his inquiring and caring gaze directed towards the former Jewish junior school and the people who want to sit down next to him and learn something about his life story and the causes of his persecution. The bench and the bronze figure are being financed with donations from many well-wishing private individuals and institutions. The project was first announced together with the city of Chemnitz and Justin Sonder’s daughter in January 2023.
The cost of the sculpture is 70,000 euros. 20,000 euros has already been collected by the International Auschwitz Committee.
We kindly ask you to donate for this important project with a political signal effect.
Donations can be made to the following account:
International Auschwitz Committee
Postbank Berlin
BIC: PBNKDEFF
IBAN: DE29 1001 0010 0575 6861 06
Purpose of payment: Justin Sonder
- 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.
- Berlin: Hanukkah at the Brandenburg Gate - dedication and ceremony. The lighting of the first Hanukkah candle. Photo: IMAGO / Pacific Press Agency / SimonexKuhlmey
22.12.2022
Hanukkah greetings
77 years ago I was liberated by the Soviet Russian Army. Till the end of my life, I’ll keep in my memory, the gratitude to the Army which brought me freedom in Theresienstadt after Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
However today - 77 years later - I can not be indifferent, I can not be silent when the Russian Army is nowadays the aggressor on Ukrainian soil. When it commits crimes. When it devastates the infrastructure of the country - condemned to death in the coming winter hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
Some may ask: what has it in common with Hag Hanukkah? - It has, very much! 22 centuries ago, the Jewish nation, led by the Maccabees, defeated the Greek occupiers. If I may use the biblical metaphor:
the Jewish David defeated the Hellenistic Goliat. Thus: Hag Hanukkah is not only - as we call it - Hag Ha’orim (the Holiday of Lights), it is as well: Hag Ha’tikva - the Holiday of Hope… Of hope that Goliat might be defeated!
On behalf of our Hag Hanukkah, I wish the oppressed Ukrainian people to defeat the Goliat, the aggressor.
Marian Turski
President
International Auschwitz Committee
- The Death Gate in Stutthof concentration camp, 1941–1945. Image: GEDANOPEDIA, foundation Gdańsk – image excerpt IAC Berlin
20.12.2022
Stutthof Trial: Accessory to murder of more than 11,000 people.
In Itzehoe, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented as follows on the upcoming verdict in the Stutthof Trial against Irmgard F., the former secretary to the camp commandant, who is facing the charge of being an accessory to the murder of more than 11,000 people:
- The arrival of Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. Between 2 May and 9 July 1944, under the guidance of the German SS, members of the Hungarian gendarmerie deported more than 430,000 Hungarian Jews, most of them to Auschwitz in Poland. Image: IMAGO /Reinhard Schultz
19.12.2022
Holocaust Literature should be obligatory in German curriculum
Commenting on the appeal made by the representation of German subject teachers to the ministers of education, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, said:
- Worldwide Hanukkah celebration in honor of Holocaust survivors. Invitation to the online event on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. ET. Image: Claims Conference
13.12.2022
Holocaust Survivors Honored in Worldwide Chanukah Celebration
You are cordially invited to the online event on
Tuesday, December 20, 2022,
at 1:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM GMT / 8:30 PM ISRAEL
We are excited to invite you to the annual International Holocaust Survivors Night.
This year's virtual event will focus on the theme of hope in the face of rising anti-Semitism, the Ukraine war, and other global crises. Speakers include Holocaust survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Marian Turski.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WEBCAST ON
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20 at 1:30 PM ET
If you are unable to watch the webcast at this time, a recorded version will be available to view on the Claims Conference website afterwards at: claimscon.org/SurvivorsNight2022
- The time has come to focus more clearly on the AfD in the German Bundestag, particularly under security aspects, and to point out their responsibilities for current developments in the far-right milieu. Image: IMAGO / Christian Ohde, KGS / IAC Berlin
10.12.2022
The political consequences of the raid against the far-right milieu on 7 December 2022
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the political consequences of the raid against the far-right (Reichsbürger) milieu as follows:
- 7 December 2022: Prince Heinrich XIII. Reuß is led away in handcuffs by two police officers. Photo: Tagesspiegel
7.12.2022
Raid targeting right-wing extremists in Germany
Commenting on today’s raid by security forces, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said in Berlin:
- Donald Trump on Twitter. The Twitter profile of the 45th President of the United States of America was reactivated after the service’s takeover by Elon Musk. Image: IMAGO/Revierfoto
29.11.2022
Current developments surrounding Twitter and the network service’s owner Elon Musk.
Holocaust survivors are deeply concerned as they follow the current developments surrounding the social network service Twitter.
- Tadeusz Borowski, Polish writer (* 12 November 1922 in Zhytomyr, Ukraine; † 3 July 1951 in Warsaw). Image: KGS/IAC Berlin
12.11.2022
Remembering the world-renowned writer and Auschwitz survivor Tadeusz Borowski who was born 100 years ago on 12 November 1922.
To this day, his two collections of stories: Here in Our Auschwitz and Other Stories, and This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, both published in Poland in 1946, remain particularly disturbing and moving accounts of the horrors in Auschwitz for readers of classic world literature.
- Zilli Schmidt was born as Cäsilie Reichmann in Thuringia in 1924. She survived the concentration camps of Lety in Bohemia and the so-called Gypsy Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her daughter, her parents and her relatives were gassed there in 1944. On the same day Zilli was deported to Ravensbrück as a forced labourer. Together with her cousin she managed to escape from the concentration camp, found her way to an uncle in Berlin and acquired false documents that enabled her to move freely until the end of the war. She lived in Mannheim. Zilli Schmidt rarely spoke publicly about her life. Image: IMAGO / Mike Schmidt
21.10.2022
Auschwitz survivor Zilli Schmidt has died at the age of 98.
Zilli Schmidt, who died today aged 98, was one of the last witnesses of the genocide against the Sinti and Roma. Speaking in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to Zilli as follows:
- Reportage from the 16th General Assembly of the IAK in Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the 96-year-old Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor Marian Turski was re-elected President of the International Auschwitz Committee. Photo: Bernd Oertwig
2.11.2022
Reportage from the 16th General Assembly of IAC in Auschwitz Birkenau.
The Ascend of the Second Generation
Don´t be indifferent, indifference kills
At the assembly of the oldest organization uniting Holocaust survivors, lessons from the Holocaust pertaining to today´s Ukraine and calls to fight for liberal democracy in Europe were sounded.
An observation by Michaela Rozov, member of the delegation of the Auschwitz Committee of the Czech Republic
- Holocaust Memorial Berlin. Image: KGS / IAC Berlin
October 11, 2022
Outrage at behaviour of AfD politician from Thuringia at the Holocaust Memorial
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the behaviour of the AfD politician Holger Winterstein at the Holocaust Memorial saying:
- Nobel Peace Prize 2022, Oslo, 7 Oct. 2022. Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, poses with a picture of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, the logo of the human rights organization Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties. The winners of this year’s Peace Prize were announced at the Nobel Institute in Oslo on Friday, 7 October 2022. Image: Imago / Heiko Junge / NTB Oslo Norway
October 7, 2022
Nobel Peace Prize 2022 awarded to Belarussian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.
Commenting on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- The election result in Italy is a shocking and saddening event for all survivors of the Holocaust and the heirs of the Resistenza italiana, one of the most important resistance movements against fascism in Europe. The fact that citizens in Italy are putting their trust in the promises of far-right populists and Mussolini’s self-appointed heirs who are taking up their positions to rule, is an alarming sign that the European idea is coming under increasing pressure. Image: 123rf
September 26, 2022
IAC response to the election result in Italy
Speaking at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on the result of the Italian election and the foreseeable victory of the Fratelli d’Italia party (FDI) and other far-right parties:
- documenta fifteen: The banner of the Indonesian art collective bearing unmistakeable anti-Semitic images is dismantled. In the end all that remains is empty scaffolding. Then the artists from Taring Padi remove and destroy the large-format figures and discard them. Image: IMAGO/Hartenfelser
September 25, 2022
At the end of documenta fifteen all that remains is a pile of rubble.
Speaking at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on the end of documenta fifteen as follows:
- The president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, speaks in an interview with CBS in Teheran. It was held before his visit to New York where he took part in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly UNGA 77 on 19 September 2022. Image by Iranian Presidency apaimages, Teheran, Iran, Islamic Republic
September 20, 2022
Open Letter from Volkswagen trainees to the Iranian president in response to his playing down of the Holocaust.
In a joint project with the International Auschwitz Committee fourteen Volkswagen trainees from Wolfsburg, Zwickau, Chemnitz and Dresden are working together to preserve and maintain the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.
- 2 September 2017: Prince Charles with the Statue of Remembrance, Marian Turski (Auschwitz survivor), Michèle Deodat (artist and designer of the B statue). In London the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, receives the Statue of Remembrance from Holocaust survivors. The award was presented to Prince Charles when he met survivors and representatives of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust at St James’s Palace in London. The statue depicts the inverted B in the cynical inscription above the main gate to Auschwitz concentration camp ARBEIT MACHT FREI (work sets you free). Image: Paul Burns
September 11, 2022
Auschwitz survivors send a message to King Charles III
In January 2017, the International Auschwitz Committee presented Charles, Prince of Wales, with its Statue of Remembrance at St James’s Palace in London. The statue depicts the inverted letter B which the prisoners deliberately turned upside down in a demonstration of courage and defiance when they were forced to manufacture the inscription above the gate to Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp: ARBEIT MACHT FREI (work sets you free). The sculpture was designed by the French artist Michèle Déodat. The statue is regarded as the highest honour to be awarded by the survivors of Auschwitz in recognition of the recipient’s commitment to promoting tolerance and combatting anti-Semitic hatred, intolerance and xenophobia. Meanwhile, the statue has been presented to numerous recipients including Angela Merkel, Shimon Peres, Ban Ki-moon, Pope Francis, and the pianist Igor Levit.
- 7 September 2022: The 96-year-old Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor, Marian Turski, was re-elected as president of the International Auschwitz Committee. Image: Bernd Oertwig
Septembert 7, 2022
16th General Assembly of the International Auschwitz Committee in Oswiecim/Auschwitz
Today, in Oswiecim Poland, the General Assembly of the International Auschwitz Committee ended. It takes place every five years. This year it was attended by Auschwitz survivors, relatives and descendants of the camp survivors, and representatives from Auschwitz foundations in 11 different countries.
- 26 August 1992: Pogroms in Rostock Lichtenhagen, police moving in. Image: Imago/Rex Schober
August 22, 2022
Remembering the pogroms in Lichtenhagen in August 1992
While in Werdau/Zwickau, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the pogroms in Lichtenhagen in August 1992 and on this year’s remembrance ceremony as follows:
- Cover of the illustrated version of Anne Frank's Diary. The diary of Anne Frank is a world-famous part of the Holocaust literature. The original work has been adapted with illustrations by the screenwriter and filmmaker Ari Folman and the illustrator David Polonsky. Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation (2019) has already been translated into 20 languages, published in some 60 countries, and has headed the bestseller lists in 5 countries. Image: By courtesy of the Anne Frank Fonds, Basle.
August 18, 2022
Anne Frank’s Diary is pulled from shelves of school libraries in a school district of Fort Worth, Texas
Together with the respective school boards, ultra-conservative parents in the USA are continuing their school-cleansing campaigns against supposedly indecent literature in school and class libraries.
- 16 August 2022: Joint press conference with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin. Image: IMAGO/Jürgen Heinrich
August 16, 2022
Palestinian President Abbas feeds anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic aggressions with Holocaust comparison.
Commenting in Berlin on today’s statements and Holocaust comparison by Palestinian President Abbas during a press conference with Federal Chancellor Scholz, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:
- August 8, 2022: Zofia Posmysz, Polish author and Auschwitz survivor passed away in the Hospice of Oswiecim at the age of 98. Image: Pawelsawicki, Zofia Posmysz, Image detail: KGS / IAK Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0
August 8, 2022
Zofia Posmysz, prominent Polish author and Auschwitz survivor has died at the age of 98.
Auschwitz survivors around the globe are bidding farewell with sadness, heartfelt gratitude and great esteem, from their friend, fellow sufferer, companion and renowned writer Zofia Posmysz, who died today aged 98 in the Hospice of Oswiecim.
- August 5, 2022: Professor Felix Kolmer, Czech-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee dies aged 100. Image: memoryofnations.eu, IAK Berlin
August 5, 2022
Czech-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee Professor Felix Kolmer dies aged 100
Professor Felix Kolmer, the Czech-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, passed away this morning at the Hagibor retirement home in Prague aged 100.
- The art exhibition documenta fifteen from 18 June to 25 September 2022. A critical visitor with an exhibition catalogue and some defective spectacles – with a blind right eye. Image: IMAGO/serienlicht
July 29, 2022
Position of the International Auschwitz Committee on the current situation of documenta fifteen
Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the current situation at documenta fifteen, and specifically criticized the unwillingness of the exhibition organizers to take a stand on anti-Semitic manifestations within the exhibition:
- Polish Prime Minister Matuesz Morawiecki. Photo: IMAGO / NurPhoto / xMateuszxWlodarczykx
July 27, 2022
New appointment of the advisory body International Auschwitz Council by the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on 26 July 2022
Since the year 2000 the appointment of the International Auschwitz Council has been the responsibility of the Polish prime minister. The council’s 25 members are appointed by the prime minister as experts on the process of coming to terms with the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The council members serve for a term of six years.
- Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary. Image: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire / xBeataxZawrzelx
July 26, 2022
On the racist statements by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Băile Tușnad, Romania
Commenting on the recent statements by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the Fidesz summer academy in Băile Tușnad, Romania, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:
- Unknown persons have vandalized seven trees, by sawing them off or breaking them down, close by Buchenwald Memorial. The planting of the commemorative trees began in 1999 along the Death March routes from Buchenwald concentration camp. They are in honour and recognition of the courage of German anti-fascists Emil Carlebach, Otto Kipp, Erich Loch, Reinhold Lochmann, August Stötzel. They are also in honour of the 1,600 children and young people who did not survive Buchenwald, and the French engineer and industrialist, Marcel Dassault. The destroyed trees symbolize life, their lives and their sacrifices. Image: Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation
July 21, 2022
Attack on Buchenwald Memorial
During a visit to France, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, made a statement on the targeted attack on the Buchenwald concentration camp Memorial. The attack included the vandalizing of trees dedicated to children murdered in the camp:
- The people were crammed together in busses like this and taken to the Vélodrome d’hiver. Illustration: Jean Cabut, known as Cabu. "Whilst he was completing these illustrations, he had nightmares and was scarred for the rest of his life," wrote his wife, Véronique. Cabu was murdered in the Islamist attack in Paris on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015.
July 16, 2022
80th anniversary of the mass roundup in occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942
On this day, Auschwitz survivors around the world are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the massive, brutal roundups in occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942, in which Germans and French police arrested more than 13,000 Jews and incarcerated them for days in deplorable conditions in the velodrome near the Eiffel tower.
- documenta fifteen Friedrichplatz Kassel: The banner by the Indonesian artists’ collective Taring Padi with explicit anti-Semitic imagery has been removed, leaving the empty scaffolding. Afterwards, the artists of Taring Padi destroyed the giant figures and removed the remains. Image: IMAGO / Hartenfelser
July 9, 2022
Taking the bull by the horns: Discussion about documenta’s unprecedented blunder
Trainees stage performance against anti-Semitism at the Kunsthaus Göttingen.
- Emil Farkas, Israel. Survivor of Sachsenhausen concentration camp and witness in the trial of SS guard Josef Schütz. The 101-year-old former camp guard was sentenced to five years in prison for being an accessory to the murder of 3,500 people in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Image: KGS/IAC Berlin
June 28, 2022
Accessory to murder of thousands. SS guard from Sachsenhausen sentenced to five years in jail.
“The level of the sentence is not the decisive factor for the descendants. The fact that a judgement has been passed at all is the most important factor.” These were the words of Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee when commenting on the sentencing of a former SS guard in SS concentration camp.
- The work titled People's Justice by the Indonesian collective of underground artists Taring Padi at documenta 15 in Kassel caused a wave of outrage. The documenta organizers first decided to drape the work with black cloth, just three days after it was installed. It is now being completely dismounted. Image: hessenschau.de
June 21, 2022
The most recent anti-Semitic manifestations at documenta fifteen
During a stay at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the latest developments in the anti-Semitism debate surrounding documenta 15:
- Trio to Remember with Christoph Heubner (clockwise): Natsuko Inada, Detlef Landeck, Christoph Heubner, Jens Dembowski. Photos: Gabriele Nielsen (Kulturzentrum Schlachthof)
July 2, 2022
July 2, 2022 Literaturhaus Göttingen: “Christoph Heubner and the Trio to Remember – Music and lyrics against forgetting”
Artist Special: “Christoph Heubner and the Trio to Remember – Music and lyrics against forgetting” Literaturhaus Göttingen.
- IAC Vice President Christoph Heubner and exhibition organizer and documentarian Michèle Déodat present their exhibition "Institute to remember" at the Kunsthaus Göttingen. Image: Kunsthaus Göttingen, Christoph Heubner, KGS/IAC Berlin
June 18 – September 25, 2022
Exhibition "Institute to remember" at Kunsthaus Göttingen June 18 – September 25, 2022
IAC Vice President Christoph Heubner and exhibition organizer and documentarian Michèle Déodat present their exhibition "Institute to remember" at the Kunsthaus Göttingen.
- Anti-Semitic relief, a so-called Jews’ sow sculpture on the Evangelische Stadtkirche in Wittenberg, where Martin Luther once preached. The information on a panel at the church says: There is a relief scorning and deriding the Jewish religion on the south-east corner of the Stadtkirche which has been there since around 1290. Defamatory sculptures of this kind that depict Jews in connection with pigs – animals which are deemed unclean in Judaism – were particularly widespread in the Middle Ages. Image: IMAGO / Winfried Rothermel
June 15, 2022
Judgement of the Federal Court on the depiction of the so-called Jews’ sow in Wittenberg
During a stay at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on today’s Federal Court judgement concerning the anti-Jewish relief known as the "Wittenberger Judensau":
- Dr Angela Merkel, former Federal Chancellor. Image: Eva Oertwig/SCHROEWIG
June 15, 2022
Judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court on the statement by Federal Chancellor Merkel on the election of the Minister-President in the Free State of Thuringia in 2020
Commenting on today’s judgement by the Federal Constitutional Court on the statement by former Federal Chancellor Merkel on the election of the Minister-President in Thuringia with votes from the CDU, the FDP and the AfD, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee stressed:
- Vice Chair Mario Lehmann (AfD,Saxony-Anhalt) with Rammstein shirt at Saxony-Anhalt state parliamentary session on 24 October 2018. Foto: IMAGO / Christian
June 11, 2022
The quiet return of the former MP, Mario Lehmann, to the police force of Saxony-Anhalt
Commenting in Berlin on the return of the former AfD politician and regional state MP to the police service in Saxony-Anhalt, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Detective Inspector Mario Lehmann (52) at the opening of the new police uniform store. He took photos for the police force. Image: Christian Schroedter
June 1, 2022
AfD politician Mario Lehmann returns to police force
Repeated demands are being made to remove right-wing extremist officers from the police force. In Saxony-Anhalt a self-confirmed far-right extremist and despiser of the republic has returned to the police service. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented as follows:
- Emil Farkas, Israel. Survivor of Sachsenhausen concentration camp and witness in the criminal proceedings against concentration camp guard Josef Schütz. Image: KGS/IAC Berlin
23.5.2022
Plea in the criminal proceedings against concentration camp guard Josef Schütz, who is charged with aiding and abetting the murder of 3518 prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Today, Monday, May 23, 2022, attorney Thomas Walther pleads before the Regional Court of Neuruppin, sitting in Brandenburg, in the trial of concentration camp guard Josef Schütz, who is charged with aiding and abetting the murder of 3518 prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Download of the plea:
- Russia 5 May 2022, rehearsal for the military parade on Vladivostok Victory Day. Image: Yuri Smityuk/IMAGO/ITAR-TASS
9.5.2022
8 and 9 May: Days of remembrance marking the end of World War II
On this 9 May 2022, Auschwitz survivors across the globe are commemorating all of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian soldiers of the Red Army who liberated them from Auschwitz and led them back into life.
- Prof. Felix Kolmer, Czech Jewish survivor of Auschwitz and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee. Image: memoryofnations.eu, IAC Berlin
3.5.2022
8 and 9 May: Days of remembrance marking the end of World War II
Today, it is the 100th birthday of the Czech Jewish survivor of Auschwitz and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Prof. Felix Kolmer, who is marking his 100th anniversary in the Jewish retirement home Hagibor in Prague.
- 28 April 2022, Jerusalem, Israel: President Isaac Herzog and his wife, First Lady Michal Herzog, light candles on Yom Hashoah in the Knesset in memory of the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust. Image:
28.4.2022
Yom hashoah: Worldwide remembrance of the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust
Speaking in Berlin on the occasion of today’s Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom Hashoah, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Kolmar Park, 4143 N. Kolmar Ave. in Old Irving Park Image: Ariel Parrella-Aureli/Block Club Chicago
27.4.2022
Chicago honours Gertrud Kolmar, the German-Jewish poet who was murdered in Auschwitz
It’s a lovely story: For many years, tucked away in the northwest of Chicago, there has been a rather inconspicuous park called Kolmar Park. It is named after the city of Colmar in Alsace, France, near the border with Germany.
- Letter from Marian Turski to French President Emmanuel Macron. Image: KGS/IAC Berlin
25.4.2022
The President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Marian Turski, congratulates President Emmanuel Macron on the re-election
Letter from Marian Turski to French President Emmanuel Macron.
- Marian Turski, President of the International Auschwitz Committee. Image: Wojciech Grabowski, Excerpt: IAK Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0
24.3.2022
Marie Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin awards honorary doctorate to IAC President Marian Turski.
The Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Marian Turski, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Senate of the Polish Marie Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin.
- Holocaust survivor Boris Romanchenko was killed in a Russian missile attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on March 18, 2022, during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Image: IMAGO / photo2000
22.3.2022
Ukrainian Holocaust survivor Boris Romantschenko (96) killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv
Ukrainian Holocaust survivor Boris Romantschenko aged 96 was killed when Russian shells hit his flat in an attack on his home town of Kharkiv on Friday. During a stay at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum passes in Potsdam aged 101 years. Image: IMAGO / Metodi Popow
14.3.2022
Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum passes at the age of 101.
On Monday night the Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum died in Potsdam at the age of 101. Leon Schwarzbaum was born as the son of a Polish-Jewish family in Hamburg in 1921, but he grew up in the Polish town of Bedzin in Upper Silesia. In 1943, after the dissolution of the ghetto there, the family, was deported to Auschwitz.
- Holocaust survivor Inge Deutschkron has died aged 99 years. Image: IMAGO/Becker&Bredel
9.3.2022
Holocaust survivor Inge Deutschkron has died aged 99 years.
Holocaust survivors across the world are bidding farewell to their companion and fellow sufferer Inge Detschkron. They are eternally grateful to her, and they are expressing their heartfelt affection and respect at her passing. During a stay at Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to her as follows:
- Administrative Court in Cologne: AfD may and should be under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Image: IMAGO/Christian Ohde, KGS/IAK Berlin
9.3.2022
Administrative Court in Cologne: AfD may and should be under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
During a visit at the Auschwitz Memorial Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented as follows on the Cologne Administrative Court‘s decision for surveillance of the AfD:
- Statement of the International Committee Buchenwald, Dora and Command IKBD on the invasion of Ukraine. Image ICBD, IAC Berlin
8.3.2022
Statement of the International Committee Buchenwald, Dora and Kommandos ICBD concerning the invasion of Ukraine.
Dear Madam, Dear Sir,
We, representatives of the International Committee Buchenwald, Dora and Kommandos ICBD, hereby inform you of our statement concerning the invasion of Ukraine.
We thank you for the attention you will give to this statement and we invite you to give it the widest possible diffusion.
Very respectfully
Eva Pusztay, Naftali Fürst, Vasile Nuzsbaum, survivors of the nazi camps, members of the ICBD, together with their camp inmates,
The Executive Bureau and other delegations of the ICBD
- Missiles strike next to the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial on the outskirts of Kyiv. Image: RND.de
2.3.2022
Damage inflicted on the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, made a statement concerning the damage inflicted on the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial during the bombardment of Kyiv’s neighbouring television tower. He said:
- Feb. 27, 2022 More than a hundred thousand Germans, Ukrainians, Russians and people from all over the world demonstrate in Berlin against Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Image: KGS, IAC Berlin
27.2.2022
Putin's cynical and treacherous lie to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
Time and again the Russian president Vladimir Putin uses the terms “genocide” and “denazification” in his arguments for the invasion of Ukraine. In this context Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee stated in Berlin:
- Gabriel Bach was deputy state prosecutor in the Eichmann Trial in Israel. He is holding a photograph with himself in the foreground and Eichmann in the background. Gabriel Bach died on 18 February 2022 aged 94. Image: Menahem Kahana/AFP
19.2.2022
Gabriel Bach, deputy state prosecutor in the Eichmann Trial, dies aged 94.
Speaking in Berlin on the death of Gabriel Bach, deputy state prosecutor in the Eichmann Trial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:
- Władysław Bartoszewski Image: https://dzieje.pl TSCHÜSS. Grygiel
18.2.2022
Homage to Władysław Bartoszewski by Marian Turski
Wladyslaw Bartoszewski would have turned 100 on February 19. In his tribute to Władysław Bartoszewski, Marian Turski pays tribute to the Auschwitz survivor and great Polish statesman.
to the homage to Wladyslaw Bartoszewski
to the press release of the International Auschwitz Committee
- Richter based his Birkenau Cycle on four black-and-white photos that were taken secretly by a prisoner and then smuggled out of Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Image: imago/Robert Michael
9.2.2022
Gerhard Richter turns 90
On the occasion of Gerhard Richter’s 90th birthday Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee congratulated the artist as follows: