Oswiecim:
For what may be the last time, elderly Holocaust survivors returned to the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp 70 years after its liberation on Tuesday, to urge the world never to forget one of history's worst atrocities.
Around 300 survivors, some wearing scarves in the blue-and-white stripes of their death camp uniforms, joined world leaders for an emotional memorial at the epicentre of the Nazi genocide of Jews.
The commemoration at the cold and austere camp, which was blanketed in snow, comes amid concern over a resurgence in anti-Semitism in France, Germany and other parts of Europe.
"We do not want our past to be our children's future," said survivor Roman Kent, 86, his voice breaking with emotion.
"Witnessing the atrocities committed at the entrance gate of Auschwitz was enough to keep me awake until the end of time," Mr Kent said.
"How can I ever forget the smell of burning flesh that permeated the air?"
The mournful wail of the "shofar" - a traditional Jewish ram's horn symbolising freedom - rang out as participants prayed for the victims near the camp's red-brick entrance and its railway lines to the gas chambers.
"We are in a place where civilization collapsed," Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski told those gathered as he paid respect to the Soviet Red Army troops who liberated the camps.
As night fell, dignitaries and survivors walked along the rails in the shadows of the camp's barbed-wire fence to lay wreaths and candles.
"I thought I'd be incinerated here, never to experience my first kiss, but somehow, a 14-year-old girl, I survived," Halina Birenbaum, 86, told hundreds of dignitaries and fellow survivors, most of them in their eighties and nineties.
The grandson of the Auschwitz commander Rudolf Hoess was among the attendees.
"I can't forgive my father or my grandfather. I'm completely different," Rainer Hoess, who is devoted to fighting anti-Semitism, told reporters.
Around 300 survivors, some wearing scarves in the blue-and-white stripes of their death camp uniforms, joined world leaders for an emotional memorial at the epicentre of the Nazi genocide of Jews.
The commemoration at the cold and austere camp, which was blanketed in snow, comes amid concern over a resurgence in anti-Semitism in France, Germany and other parts of Europe.
"We do not want our past to be our children's future," said survivor Roman Kent, 86, his voice breaking with emotion.
"Witnessing the atrocities committed at the entrance gate of Auschwitz was enough to keep me awake until the end of time," Mr Kent said.
"How can I ever forget the smell of burning flesh that permeated the air?"
The mournful wail of the "shofar" - a traditional Jewish ram's horn symbolising freedom - rang out as participants prayed for the victims near the camp's red-brick entrance and its railway lines to the gas chambers.
"We are in a place where civilization collapsed," Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski told those gathered as he paid respect to the Soviet Red Army troops who liberated the camps.
As night fell, dignitaries and survivors walked along the rails in the shadows of the camp's barbed-wire fence to lay wreaths and candles.
"I thought I'd be incinerated here, never to experience my first kiss, but somehow, a 14-year-old girl, I survived," Halina Birenbaum, 86, told hundreds of dignitaries and fellow survivors, most of them in their eighties and nineties.
The grandson of the Auschwitz commander Rudolf Hoess was among the attendees.
"I can't forgive my father or my grandfather. I'm completely different," Rainer Hoess, who is devoted to fighting anti-Semitism, told reporters.
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