Auschwitz survivors warn towards hatred – Poland’s president requires German conflict reparations | EUROtoday

At the commemoration of the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the previous German focus and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, survivors warned of a resurgence of hatred and violence in society. 96-year-old Auschwitz survivor Bernard Offen stated he was observing developments that reminded him of the time earlier than World War II. He sees growing hatred, a justification of violence and individuals who put their anger above the lives of others.

The purpose of the memorial service was to attract full consideration to the statements of the previous prisoners, defined memorial director Piotr Cywinski earlier than the occasion. The voices of the survivors are significantly essential as a result of lots of them are very previous and the variety of modern witnesses continues to say no.

Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki additionally took half within the commemoration. The right-wing conservative head of state first laid a wreath on a memorial plaque for the primary transport of Polish prisoners to Auschwitz. In a speech, he described the camp as an emblem of National Socialist barbarism and an expression of an ideology that emerged from Germany. At the identical time, Auschwitz stands for indifference in direction of the demise of innocents, stated Nawrocki.

The president additionally used the anniversary to reiterate his demand for German conflict reparations. To date, Poland has not acquired satisfactory compensation for the losses and crimes suffered in World War II, he stated. A peaceable world can solely emerge if accountability is taken for each crime. This included compensation and an apology.

During his inaugural go to to Berlin final September, Nawrocki had already demanded trillions in compensation funds. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rejected these calls for. Steinmeier defined on the time that the reparations difficulty had been legally clarified from a German perspective. In Poland, nevertheless, in line with surveys, a majority of the inhabitants continues to assist further compensation funds from Germany.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau focus and extermination camp is a worldwide image of the Holocaust and the crimes of National Socialism. Between 1940 and 1945, round 1.1 million folks had been murdered there, most of them Jews. The victims died in fuel chambers, by shootings, hunger, illness or pressured labor.