By Barbara Erling and Kuba Stezycki
OSWICIM, Poland (Reuters) – Auschwitz survivors will be joined by world leaders on Monday to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp by Soviet troops, in what is likely to be one of the last gatherings of those who experienced its horrors.
The anniversary at the site of the camp, which Nazi Germany set up in occupied Poland during World War II, will be attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron, the President of the European Council Antonio Costa and a host of other Leaders.
Israel will be represented by Education Minister Yoav Kisch.
Pawel Sawicki, a spokesman for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, said there would be no speeches from politicians and that leaders would instead listen to the voices of survivors.
“It is clear to all of us that this is the last milestone anniversary where we can have a group of survivors who will be visible who can be present at the site,” he said.
“In ten years this will not happen and as long as we can, we must listen to the voices of survivors, their testimonies, their personal stories. This is something that has enormous meaning when we talk about how the memory of Auschwitz is shaped.
The main commemoration will begin at 1500 GMT in a tent built above the gate of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. One of the symbols of the anniversary will be a freight train car, which will be placed in front of the gate.
More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, colds and disease at Auschwitz.
More than 3 million of the 3.2 million Jews in Poland were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews in German-occupied Europe.
