Berlin/Auschwitz, 27 January 2025 - On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp, the International Auschwitz Committee commemorated the millions of victims of the National Socialist’s systematic murder programme and called for responsibility for the future.
The voices of the survivors: Last witnesses of a crime against humanity
This year's memorial service was dedicated to the last survivors. More than 50 survivors of Auschwitz and other camps set out once again to share their memories with the world. Their words were not just reminiscences. They passed on a mission to us all: the lessons of the Holocaust must not be allowed to vanish amid the noise of today's world.
Remembering the victims: the words of Marian Turski
In his speech, Marian Turski, Holocaust survivor, historian and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized the responsibility of those born after the Holocaust to keep the memory of the victims alive. He warned that it is now up to us to pass on their story and to actively stand up against hatred, discrimination and anti-Semitism.
He called on those present not to ignore the silence of those murdered, but to fill the void with an active culture of remembrance. As a sign of respect, he asked for a minute's silence for the millions whose lives were extinguished by the crimes of Auschwitz.
Link to the speech by Marian Turski
A global sign against forgetting and indifference
The presence of delegations from 55 countries and high-ranking politicians from Germany, including Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, demonstrated the continuing commitment to remembrance. Chancellor Scholz called for the memory of the people murdered in Auschwitz to be kept alive. “More than a million people with dreams and hopes were murdered in extermination camps, murdered by Germans,” Mr Scholz said. “We will not tolerate forgetting, not today and not tomorrow.”
Mr Scholz called for special efforts to be made to create a culture of remembrance for the younger generation. “We should find it particularly distressing that so many young people in Germany know so little about the Holocaust,” said the SPD politician. This is “a reminder and a task for us all to change something”. He called for increased educational work and an active fight against all forms of hatred and destructive agitation.
A mission for the present: remembrance as a firewall against hatred
The director of the Auschwitz Memorial, Piotr Cywinski, pointed to the growing threat of populism and the erosion of historical truths. “Your experience is a beacon in times of uncertainty and disinformation,” Cywinski said of the survivors. The International Auschwitz Committee supported this appeal and warned that in a world of increasing radicalization, historical responsibility must not be marginalized.
Guardians of memory − a reminder for the future
The Polish government reaffirmed its role as “guardians of memory”. Polish President Andrzej Duda recalled his country's tragic history: “We Poles, on whose land occupying Nazi Germany built this machinery of extermination, bear a special responsibility today for preserving the memory.”
A legacy for the world
Auschwitz is not just a place of remembrance, but a warning to the world: hatred, anti-Semitism and inhuman ideologies do not arise out of nowhere. They grow where indifference and repression create spaces. The legacy of Auschwitz challenges us all.
