Auschwitz concentration camp survivors and world leaders gathered in the Polish city of Auschwitz on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the largest Nazi death camp, BNR reported.
On this date we also celebrate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust.
On January 27, 1945, Soviet soldiers reached the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and found 7,000 survivors.
This was the largest German death camp during World War II, and in less than 5 years, near the Polish city of Auschwitz, one million Jews and one hundred thousand Roma, Russian prisoners of war and other prisoners lost their lives, suffocated in gas chambers, died in shootings, torture, medical experiments and from starvation.
At the memorial ceremony next to the camp, four surviving prisoners of "Auschwitz" spoke to Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kish, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and other world leaders such as Britain's King Charles III.
"At such a moment, we are reminded of how deeply humanity can sink when evil flourishes because it has been ignored by the world for too long," said the British monarch.
In "Auschwitz" Bulgarian President Rumen Radev was also present, accompanied by Bishop Miletius of Zniepol, who participated in a joint prayer service with representatives of different faiths.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also in Auschwitz, but Poland, which organized the ceremonies, did not invite Russian representatives because of the war in Ukraine.
On the occasion of the anniversary, Russian leader Vladimir Putin paid tribute to the Soviet soldiers who reached and liberated "Auschwitz-Birkenau", emphasizing that they "crush the total evil".
The President of Poland honored the memory of the victims of Nazism in the "Auschwitz" concentration camp in Auschwitz today, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"We, the Poles, on whose territory occupied by Nazi Germany this extermination industry and this concentration camp were built, are the guardians of memory", Duda said at the commemoration ceremony on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners there.
At the beginning of the ceremony at the "Auschwitz-Birkenau" memorial complex, Duda laid a wreath at the Wall of Death, accompanied by surviving prisoners.
Thousands of people were shot by the Nazis on the wall in question.