Starting tomorrow, young people from around the globe who are gathering in Krakow for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day will be visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

The visits to the Memorial will be taking place from 20 to 28 July 2016. Up to 20,000 young people are expected each day during the first few days. Their numbers will increase later reaching up to 30,000 a day.

The Auschwitz survivors are deeply moved by the young people’s great interest in visiting the Memorial to inform themselves about their fate and that of their families.

As a sign of their recognition and affection towards the young people, the survivors are passing on the enclosed letter to them. It conveys a sum of their memories and their life experiences from Auschwitz to the present day.

In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said: “The survivors’ letter is a message against complacency and a call to become involved. Their view of the world at this time is neither clouded nor mellowed by age. Instead it is shaped by profound concern and outrage. This is one of the reasons that they ask the young people to carry their memories into the future and to assume responsibility for the world of today.”

On 29 July, Pope Francis will be visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial together with survivors.