Holocaust survivors from all over the world returned Monday to Poland to honor the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Close to 200 survivors walked together through the camp gates accompanied by their children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren as they prayed and wept together where 1.1 million Jews, Poles, Russians and Romas were murdered at the camp by the Nazi German forces, according to the Associated Press in a piece published Monday. (RELATED: Way Too Many AMericans Don’t Know What Auschwitz Was)
“We have with us the last living survivors, the last among those who saw the Holocaust with their own eyes,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told those at the event, which included the German president as well as other leaders.
“The magnitude of the crime perpetrated in this place is terrifying, but we must not look away from it and we must never forget it,” Duda added.
WATCH:
View this post on Instagram
The New York Times has also shared photos taken from a Memory march held last week that “followed the main route of the death march of 1945, during which participants traced the paths of the victims and visited the monuments and graves dedicated to the lives lost in the Holocaust.”
The caption next to the stunning post read, “‘We live as long as the memory of us is alive,’ a handwritten note in one of the barracks at Auschwitz-Birkenau read. It was 75 years ago, on Jan. 27, 1945, when Soviet forces swept across Poland from the east and liberated Auschwitz, the camp complex where 1.3 million were enslaved — and 1.1 million among them systematically murdered — during World War II.”
View this post on Instagram
“But before the Soviets could arrive, the Nazis marched some 56,000 weakened prisoners out of the camp, in the dead of winter, with an estimated 15,000 shot or dying of cold, hunger and illness along the way,” the post went on. (RELATED: Trump Heads Out In The Cold Rain To Honor The Fallen In Surprise Visit At Arlington National Cemetery)
“Wonder Woman” star and Israeli-born actress Gal Gadot shared the clip on her social media account, saying it had brought her to tears. Gadot’s late grandfather, Abraham Weiss, was a Holocaust survivor whose family was killed at Auschwitz.
“This moment has me in tears,” the 34-year-old actress wrote. “This morning, Auschwitz survivors walk through camp gates on 75th anniversary of liberation. I recently read that 41% of Americans and 66% of millennials say they never heard about Auschwitz death camp, these statistics has to change.”
“May we honor the memories, may we show compassion to one another, may we never forget. #standtogether,” she added.
