The greatest of the extermination camps, Auschwitz has come to represent the murder of six million European Jews by Nazi Germany, of whom one million perished there between 1940 and 1945, along with another 100,000 non-Jews.
Alongside survivors, some of whom wore scarves in the blue-and-white stripes of their death camp uniforms, Polish President Andrzej Duda lay flowers at the site on Monday morning.
Following that, about 50 survivors are anticipated to join dozens of dignitaries, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British King Charles III, in the main commemoration outside the gates of Auschwitz II-Birkenau starting at 1500 GMT.
Expected are Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Pawel Sawicki, a spokesman for the Auschwitz Museum, told AFP that this year’s focus would be on the survivors and their message. “Politicians will not be making any speeches.”
Survivors worldwide discussed the importance of preserving the memory of what transpired when there are no more living witnesses in interviews with AFP before to the anniversary.
They also expressed their concerns about history repeating itself and cautioned against the rise in anti-Semitism and intolerance around the world.
With so many survivors, the organizers predicted it might be the final significant anniversary.
“We all understand that hosting a sizable gathering for the 90th anniversary in ten years will not be feasible,” Sawicki stated.
“Get rid of hatred.”
In 1940, barracks in Oswiecim, southern Poland, were used to establish Auschwitz. The Nazis Germanized its name to Auschwitz.
On June 14 of that year, the first 728 Polish political prisoners arrived.
The SS forced 60,000 malnourished prisoners to march west in what became known as the “Death March” on January 17, 1945, as Soviet soldiers advanced.
As Soviet troops came closer, the Germans retreated after blowing up the crematoria and gas chambers at Birkenau between January 21 and 26.
When Soviet troops arrived on January 27, they discovered 7,000 survivors.
The United Nations has declared the day of its liberation to be Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A Russian delegation has always participated in the yearly liberation ceremony before to its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but Moscow will be barred again this year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the world must come together to fight evil in remarks commemorating the day.
“The hatred that fuels abuse and homicide must be eradicated. We need to avoid forgetting. And it is everyone’s responsibility to do everything in their power to keep evil from triumphing,” he stated.
Following speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would attend the ceremony, there has also been controversy.
A warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest was issued by the International Criminal Court last year on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Gaza conflict.
Last month, the Polish government affirmed, at Duda’s request, that it would not detain Netanyahu should he travel, despite the Israeli leader’s lack of intentions to attend.
Some 40 survivors of the Nazi camps agreed to talk to AFP in the run up to the anniversary.
In 15 countries, from Israel to Poland, Russia to Argentina, Canada to South Africa they sat in front of our cameras to tell their stories, alone or surrounded by their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren — proof of their victory over absolute evil.
“How did the world allow Auschwitz?” asked 95-year-old Marta Neuwirth from Santiago, Chile.
She was 15 when she was sent from Hungary to the camp.
Julia Wallach, who is nearly 100, has difficulty talking about what happened without crying.
“It is too difficult to talk about, too hard,” she said. The Parisian was dragged off a lorry destined for the gas chamber in Birkenau at the last minute.
But hard as it is to relive the horrors, she insisted she would continue to give witness.
“As long as I can do it, I will do it.” Beside her, her granddaughter Frankie asked: “Will they believe us when we talk about this when she is not there?”
That is why Esther Senot, 97, braved the Polish winter last month to go back to Birkenau with French high school students.
She was keeping a promise she made in 1944 to her dying sister Fanny, who — laid out on the straw coughing up blood — asked her with her last breath to “tell what happened to us so that we are not forgotten by history”