Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., February 28, 2009 Adar 4, 5769 | | Israel Time: 05:40 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Auschwitz survivors gather to mark Nazi death camp's liberation
By The Associated Press
Tags: Jewish World 

Auschwitz survivors and state officials were gathering Tuesday to mark the 64th anniversary of the Nazi death camp's liberation as part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies.

The yearly commemoration, in the depth of the Polish winter, marks the day the advancing Soviet army liberated the camp in 1945. The anniversary has been established as an annual Holocaust remembrance day by the United Nations.

More than one million people, mostly Jews, were killed in the camp's gas chambers or died through forced labor, disease or starvation.
Advertisement
Tuesday's commemorations at Auschwitz include a wreath-laying ceremony and prayers at the foot of the former camp's main memorial, which stands between the twisted ruins of two crematoria.

Events elsewhere include a speech to the German parliament by President Horst Koehler and a ceremony at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin.

As aging Holocaust survivors grow frailer and fewer in number, Auschwitz-Birkenau - established by the Nazis in occupied Poland - is in such a state of disrepair that its preservation is under threat.

The Polish state officials who oversee the camp say at least $130 million is needed in the next 15 to 20 years to maintain the site ? money that it has so far failed to raise from the international community.

Already, the museum has had to seal off crumbling barracks for fear that visitors could get injured. The remains of the former gas chambers and crematoria are also deteriorating due to the yearly cycle of freezing and thawing of the earth.

"These buildings weren't built to last, said Pawel Sawicki," a spokesman for the museum. "If we don't get the money, we'll have to close more and more buildings."

Germany on Monday praised Polish efforts to preserve the site and promised to help fund them. It did not cite a figure.

The museum, set up in 1947, received 12.7 million zlotys ($3.7 million) from the Polish government last year and earned about 13 million zlotys more by publishing survivor accounts, screening documentaries to visitors and from guide fees.

Private donations from abroad amount to only a small fraction of its income.


Related articles:
  • Summit on Holocaust: Gaza war legitimized equating Jews with Nazis
  • After 60 years, Jewish siblings separated in Holocaust reunited
  • Auschwitz expert: Blueprints found in Berlin not of death camp
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    War crimes probe
    A Spanish court says it will go on investigating Israeli officials over a Gaza bombing
    Peres' Abe
    Did Abraham Lincoln promise to support the establishment of a Jewish state?
      1.   Auschwitz survivors 04:29  |  Donald Everson 28/02/09
     Haaretz Hot Topics
    Israel 2009 election results: Voter breakdown
    Israel goes to the polls
    Conflict in Gaza
    Israel vs. Hamas
    Iran: Nuclear and regional ambitions
    More Headlines
    05:35 U.S. to boycott Durban 2 summit on racism
    02:14 Israel, Jewish groups hail U.S. boycott of Durban 2 summit
    03:17 U.S.: No normal Syria ties until it stops backing Hamas, Hezbollah
    21:34 Spanish war crimes probe against Israeli officials to go on
    02:52 Israeli film 'Waltz with Bashir' captures French Oscar
    22:38 Obama sets deadline for Iraq pullout, unveils new strategy
    16:27 U.K. diplomat suspended for alleged anti-Semitic rant
    15:27 Did Abraham Lincoln support the creation of a Jewish state?
    10:29 Can Israel make peace with Syria without leaving Golan?
    14:45 Netanyahu: Livni refused my offer for unity
    18:11 Germany may arrest Holocaust-denying bishop for hate crime
    13:02 40 days after war, Hamas rule of Gaza gaining legitimacy
    09:39 Israel planning mass expansion of West Bank settlement bloc
    15:18 Alabama city recruiting Jews gets its first new family
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Spring Specials-Dan Hotels
    Jerusalem from 179$. Tel-Aviv from 223$. Herzliya from 336$
    Dead Sea Skin Care
    Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
    Summer in Israel
    Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009
    Passover Vacations
    The BEST Passover Vacations around ? Mexico, Arizona and Florida
    Camp Kimama Israel 2009
    The best place for your children this summer
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | | Israel 2009 election results
    Site rules | Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved