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Posted on 01/27/2010 12:50:21 PM PST by JoeProBono
Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp survivors have been among those marking the 65th anniversary of its liberation at UK Holocaust Memorial Day events.
Many attended a national commemoration at London's Guildhall, with other survivors of genocide and politicians. In a statement, the Archbishop of Canterbury urged people to hear their stories and remember their legacy.
He also warned against "attitudes in ourselves and in others which were the harbingers of the Holocaust".
Among the survivors at the Guildhall was Lilly Ebert, 79, from Golders Green, north London, who was taken to Auschwitz with her family in 1944.
Politicians and dignitaries filed into the great hall giving out polite handshakes. The Holocaust survivors greeted each other with bear hugs and knowing smiles; long-lost friends with a shared past. The ceremony began with the crystal clear voices of a school choir, silhouetted against a backdrop of grainy black and white images.
Forever associated with the horrors of the Holocaust, emaciated faces stare soullessly from behind the barbed wire of concentration camps. It's hard to believe some of those skeletal figures shivering in Eastern Europe's icy winters are sitting here, surrounded by the families they went on to build. They too have been affected by the horrors their parents suffered.
At the back, one woman kept her hand on the door for a swift exit. She and her sister both suffer from claustrophobia. "Too many stories about gas chambers and cattle trucks from my parents," she explained. Auschwitz marks Holocaust Day She remembers her time in the largest Nazi concentration camp "so vividly, it could have happened yesterday" and remains traumatised by the experience.
"The most important thing is to be alive," she told the BBC.....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Members of the "Master Race" relax at their retreat at Solahutte outside of Auschwitz. From left: Richard Baer, who became the commandant of Auschwitz in May 1944; Dr. Josef Mengele; Josef Kramer (hidden), Commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau; and, Rudolf Hoess (foreground), the former Commandant of Auschwitz; with the man at right unidentified.
Taking a break from savagery and killings, SS Officers are in the mood to sing: An accordionist leads a sing-along for SS officers at their retreat at Solahutte outside Auschwitz. Pictured in the front row are Karl Hoecker, Otto Moll, Rudolf Hoess, Richard Baer, Josef Karmer, Franz Hoessler, and Dr. Josef Mengele. [United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]
Dachau
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BY JPOST.COM STAFF 27/01/2010 18:05
NEVER FORGET!
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