Holocaust survivors, their families and world leaders have gathered in Auschwitz to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp.
Today's ceremony, which is expected to be attended by 50 survivors, is expected to be the last major celebration that any significant number of survivors will be able to attend.
The Nazis murdered some 1.1 million people at the infamous site in southern Poland, which was under German occupation during World War II before being liberated by Soviet forces.
Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, homosexuals, and others targeted for elimination because of the Nazis' depraved racial and social ideology.
Elderly camp survivors, some wearing blue-and-white striped scarves and hats reminiscent of their prison uniforms, walked together to the Wall of the Dead, where prisoners were executed.
Those murdered included huge numbers of Poles who resisted the occupation of their country, and today Polish President Andrzej Duda joined those in commemoration of the six million citizens his country lost during the war.
He carried a candle and walked with Piotr Cywinski, director of the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau. At the wall, the two men bowed their heads, murmured prayers and crossed themselves.
“We Poles, on whose land – at the time occupied by Nazi Germans – the Germans built this extermination industry and this concentration camp, are today the guardians of memory,” Duda told reporters afterwards.
Soldiers arrive with wreaths at the so-called “Wall of Death” at the former Auschwitz I concentration camp, on the 80th anniversary of its liberation
Some older camp survivors wore blue-and-white striped scarves and hats reminiscent of their prison uniforms
View of the gate with the text “Work Sets You Free”, in German, on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration Auschwitz-Birkenau
Former prisoners and their guests attend a wreath-laying ceremony in front of the Wall of the Dead
Older camp survivors walked together to the Wall of Death, where prisoners were executed
Survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp and their families arrive to lay candles at the Wall of the Dead
Today's ceremony in Auschwitz is expected to be attended by 50 survivors
Olish President Andrzej Duda speaks at the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau
View of a tree between former camp buildings on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau
He spoke of the “unimaginable damage” done to so many people, especially the Jewish people. “May the memory of all the dead live on, may they rest in peace,” he said.
In total, the Germans murdered six million Jews from across Europe, exterminating two-thirds of European Jews and one-third of all Jews worldwide.
In 2005, the United Nations declared January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Across Europe, officials and others are marking memorials and meeting with survivors, the majority of whom are in their 90s or older.
Twenty years ago, about 1,000 survivors attended memorial ceremonies at the site.
“As the last survivors fade, it is our duty as Europeans to commemorate the unspeakable crimes and honor the memories of the victims,” German European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X.
The commemorations will culminate later Monday when world leaders and royalty will join elderly camp survivors, the youngest of whom are in their 80s, in Birkenau, the part of Auschwitz where the mass murder of Jews took place.
However, politicians have not been asked to speak this year. Due to the advanced age of the survivors, of whom around 50 are expected, the organizers are choosing to make them the center of the celebrations. Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, will also speak.
Among the leaders expected to attend are German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
It is reportedly the first time in history that Germany has sent both of its highest state representatives to the celebrations.
It is a sign of Germany's continued commitment to taking responsibility for the country's crimes, even amid a growing far-right movement eager to forget them.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will attend, while Britain's King Charles III will also attend, along with kings and queens from Spain, Denmark and Norway.
The weather in Oświęcim, a short drive from Krakow, is cold and clear for today's ceremony
Survivor Janina Iwanska attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Wall of Death during the 80th anniversary commemoration
Polish police patrol the fences of Auschwitz concentration camp
A woman looks through a window of the former home of Rudolf Höss, commander of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp that has now been converted into the Auschwitz Center for Hate, Extremism and Radicalization
Leon Placek, a survivor of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Bergen-Belsen, attends ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi extermination camp
French President Emmanuel Macron, left, talks with filmmaker Eric Toledano, second from left, Auschwitz-Birkenau, former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp survivor Esther Senot and Leon Placek, right, a survivor of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Holocaust survivor Naki Bega, 97, stands in front of the Holocaust memorial after laying a wreath in Athens, Greece
The monarch becomes the first British head of state to visit the former Nazi concentration camp, with the trip described by royal sources as a 'deeply personal pilgrimage' for the king.
Russian representatives have in the past been central guests at the anniversary celebrations recognizing the Soviet liberation of the camp on January 27, 1945 and the enormous losses suffered by the Soviet forces in the Allied defeat of Nazi Germany.
But they have not been welcome since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose leader is a nation defending itself against Russia's brutal invasion, placed a candle at the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial in Kiev, where tens of thousands of Jews were executed during the Nazi occupation.
Zelensky said in Telegram: “The evil that wants to destroy the lives of entire nations is still present in the world.”
Today he travels to Poland, where he will meet other world leaders.
