San Francisco Frontiers - Auschwitz survivors return to death camp for 80th anniversary of liberation

Auschwitz was the largest of the extermination camps and has become a symbol of Nazi Germany's genocide of six million Jews. One million Jews and more than 100,000 non-Jews died at the site between 1940 and 1945.

Elderly former inmates, some wearing scarves in the blue-and-white stripes of their death camp uniforms, laid flowers at the site on Monday touching the camp's Wall of Death in silence.

Around 50 survivors are expected at the main commemoration from 1500 GMT outside the gates of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Britain's King Charles III, French President Emmanuel Macron and dozens of other international leaders will join them.

There will be no political speeches, Auschwitz Museum told AFP. The focus will be on former inmates -- Marian Turski, Janina Iwanska, Tova Friedman, and Leon Weintraub.

"When I arrived in Auschwitz and got off the train, I saw the pits where human corpses were burned because the crematoria could not keep up," Iwanska, a 94-year-old survivor, told AFP earlier this month.

The streets of Oswiecim were mainly deserted except for police and fleets of official cars. The camp was closed to the public and lay silent except for the fluttering of the Auschwitz Museum flags, striped like the prisoners' uniforms.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was among leaders at the ceremony.

In a statement, Zelensky said the world must unite "to prevent evil from winning". In a rival statement, Russia's President Vladimir Putin praised the role of Soviet soldiers in ending the "total evil" of Auschwitz.

Until its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a Russian delegation had always attended the ceremony but Moscow was barred again this year.

There has also been controversy following rumours that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could attend the ceremony.

Poland said last month it would not act on an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Netanyahu on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes over the Gaza war. But Israel was represented by Education Minister Yoav Kisch.

Organisers said this could be the last major anniversary with such a large group of survivors.

"We all know that in 10 years it will not be possible to have a large group for the 90th anniversary," Auschwitz Museum spokesman Pawel Sawicki said.

"As the number of Holocaust survivors regrettably diminishes with the passage of time, the responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders and on those of generations yet unborn," King Charles III said on a visit to Jewish community centre in Krakow on Monday.

- 'Overcome hatred' -

Auschwitz was created in 1940 using barracks in Oswiecim, southern Poland. Its name was Germanised into Auschwitz by the Nazis.

The first 728 Polish political prisoners arrived on June 14 of that year.

On January 17, 1945, as Soviet troops advanced, the SS forced 60,000 emaciated prisoners to walk west in what became known as the "Death March".

From January 21-26, the Germans blew up the Birkenau gas chambers and crematoria and withdrew as Soviet troops approached.

On January 27, Soviet troops found 7,000 survivors when they arrived.

The day of its liberation has been designated by the United Nations as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

- 'Not forgotten' -

Ahead of the anniversary, survivors spoke to AFP about the need to preserve the memory of what happened in the death camp and warned of rising hatred and anti-Semitism. They expressed fears that history could repeat itself.

Some 40 survivors in 15 countries told their stories, alone or surrounded by their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren -- proof of their victory over absolute evil.

Julia Wallach, who is nearly 100, cannot recall the events 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.

"As long as I can do it, I will do it." Nearby, 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 school students.

She kept a promise 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".

G.Allen--SFF