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"Where was God in those days?" asked Pope Benedict XVI as he stood in Auschwitz last week. "Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?" It is the inevitable question in Auschwitz, that vast factory of death where the Nazis tortured, starved, shot, and gassed to death as many as a million and a half innocent human beings, most of them Jews. "In a place like this, words fail," Benedict said. "In the end, there can be only a dread silence, a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord,...

Recently, Oprah Winfrey aired a special show featuring author and Holocaust survivor, Elie Weisel. Oprah and her guest toured Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp in Poland. Weisel was a survivor of Auschwitz. Winfrey...uttered a statement that was an insult to the millions of Americans and others who fought against Hitler's war machine. Speaking to Weisel, Winfrey said of the Holocaust, this all went on while the world did nothing. Winfrey made her comment based on Weisel's statement that the Allies knew of places like Auschwitz as early as 1942. The truth is, some historians do not agree with Weisel's take...

"A Warning and a Word of Hope" ROME, MAY 29, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Jewish representatives called Benedict XVI's visit to Auschwitz a warning to humanity to help ensure that such a horror will not be repeated. Giuseppe Laras, president of Italy's rabbis, stated on Vatican Radio that "this visit is a warning to humanity and a word of hope and consolation for all those who suffered." "I have read in Benedict XVI's words the suffering for what occurred, for the responsibilities of Nazism, and in a certain part, also of the German people," said Laras. At the site of the concentration...

A rainbow is seen in the sky as the Pope Benedict XVI pays his respect to the victims of the former Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland May 28, 2006. Calling himself 'a son of Germany,' Pope Benedict prayed at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Sunday and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, mostly Jews, died in this 'valley of darkness.' REUTERS/Damir Sagolj  

Pope's Auschwitz speech seen as moving but incomplete Mon May 29, 2006 9:36am ET WARSAW (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's speech in Auschwitz was the most introspective and moving address of his papacy, but some who heard it still thought he did not go far enough. Ending a four-day pilgrimage to Poland on Sunday, the 79-year-old Pontiff reflected on how hard it was for a German to visit the former Nazi death camp and how challenging the evil committed there was for anyone who believed in a loving God. His bold decision to ask at the infamous death camp the question...

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Reuters - Sun May 28, 3:47 PM ET Survivors of Auschwitz watch as Pope Benedict XVI pays respect by the death wall as he visits the former Auschwitz death camp May 28, 2006. Calling himself 'a son of Germany,' Pope Benedict prayed at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Sunday and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, mostly Jews, died in this 'valley of darkness.' REUTERS/Peter Andrews German-born Pope Benedict XVI walked alone under the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau as he began a poignant visit...

Calling himself "a son of Germany," Pope Benedict prayed at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Sunday and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, mostly Jews, died in this "valley of darkness." Ending a four-day pilgrimage to Poland, Benedict, 79, said humans could not fathom "this endless slaughter" but only seek reconciliation for those who suffered then and those who now "are suffering in new ways from the power of hatred." As on the rest of his trip, he walked in the footsteps of his Polish-born predecessor John Paul, who came to the camp in...

German-born Benedict visits Auschwitz By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer OSWIECIM, Poland - German-born Pope Benedict XVI, walking solemnly with his hands clasped, visited the Auschwitz concentration camp Sunday, passing alone under its infamous gate — a solitary figure in white. Benedict's black-clad entourage kept its distance as he walked under the gate's notorious words: "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Sets You Free." Other than a brief greeting to the local bishop, Benedict kept silent, his lips moving in prayer and the wind tossing his white hair as he stopped for a full minute before the Wall of Death,...

Pope Benedict will visit the Auschwitz death camp during an upcoming visit to Poland. And when he does, a church official says the Pope will walk into the camp, instead of entering by car. The German-born Benedict plans to pray at former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in southern Poland on Sunday. It's a visit heavy with symbolism on the last day of a four-day trip to the homeland of his predecessor, Pope John Paul. Benedict initially planned to ride through the Auschwitz gate in his so-called "popemobile." But he decided to walk once Polish organizers pointed out that Nazi commanders and...

Witold Pilecki Born May 13, 1901, Olonets, Karelia, Russia. Died May 25, 1948, Warsaw, Poland. Witold Pilecki (May 13, 1901 – May 25, 1948); codenames Roman Jezierski, Tomasz Serafinski, Druh, Witold) was a soldier of the Second Polish Republic, founder of the resistance movement Secret Polish Army (Tajna Armia Polska) and member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). During World War II he was the only known person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While there, he organized inmate resistance, and as early as 1940 informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's camp atrocities. He escaped from...

Pope Benedict will meet Polish Holocaust survivors 12.05.2006 Pope Benedict XVI will meet 32 survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi German death camp during his visit to Poland at the end of this month. Those will include Poles who were among the first trainload of prisoners to arrive at the former Polish army barracks in the southern Polish city of Oswiecim, which the Germans turned into a death camp in 1940. The pope will meet the former inmates at Auschwitz's haunting execution wall, where thousands of prisoners were shot by the Nazis. Benedict's trip to Poland, the native land of his...

A German pope's duty at Auschwitz Timothy W. Ryback FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2006 SALZBURG The Vatican recently announced that Pope Benedict XVI will visit Auschwitz on his scheduled trip to Poland later this month. This will be his second Auschwitz visit. In 1979, when Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop of Munich, he accompanied Pope John Paul II to the former Nazi death camp, where they celebrated Holy Communion. "It was a moving idea and a moving moment to look across these horrific fields of death in which four million human beings lost their lives, and to experience the resurrection as the...

What's in a Name? 26 April 2006 The Polish proposal that the name of the former extermination camp should be changed initially met with criticism, and then support from Jewish organizations. Auschwitz-Birkenau has featured on the UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List since 1979. In March, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage moved to the UNESCO that the official name of the camp should be changed from the present: Concentration Camp Auschwitz to Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. One of main arguments for the move has been the necessity to prevent the spreading of a false view of...

Poland Honors Those Who Died at Auschwitz By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press OSWIECIM, Poland — An 80-year-old Auschwitz survivor joined thousands of people who marched in silence Tuesday at the site of the death camp in remembrance of the 6 million victims of the Holocaust. Shimon Peres, the former Israeli prime minister and Nobel peace laureate, led 8,000 people, mostly students, in the annual March of the Living, a two-mile trek from Auschwitz to the larger, neighboring camp at Birkenau, which housed most of the killing complex's gas chambers. Some 1.1 million people, mostly...

Poland welcomes Israeli support for renaming Auschwitz By Reuters Last Update: 20/04/2006 21:04 WARSAW - Poland on Thursday said it welcomed Holocaust museum Yad Vashem's backing for its efforts to have Auschwitz concentration camp renamed to make clear Nazi Germans rather than Poles were responsible for it. Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered at the site, which remains at the heart of sometimes tense but improving Polish-Jewish relations. Poland has asked the United Nations to change the name of its world heritage site from "Auschwitz Concentration Camp" to "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp of Auschwitz". Warsaw is incensed...

Anti Defamation League Urges UNESCO to Ensure That Auschwitz Is Designated As "German" Camp New York, NY, April 10, 2006 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has expressed support for the government of Poland's ongoing efforts to ensure that the official name of the Auschwitz death camp, as recorded on UNESCO's World Heritage site registry, emphasizes that the camp was built and operated by Nazi Germany. "We share Poland's concerns over the frequent description of Auschwitz as a 'Polish' camp, since this seems to imply that the camp was built in the name of the Polish people," said Abraham H. Foxman,...

Auschwitz name change proposal angers Jewish community Poland’s request to UNESCO for the name of Auschwitz to be changed on the World Heritage List to the Nazi-German Concentration Camp has met with criticism from the international Jewish community. Michal Kubicki reports 11.04.06 Poland has asked the UN culture organization UNESCO to describe the former Auschwitz camp as ‘Nazi’ and ‘German’ in the UNESCO list of heritage sites. UESCO is to respond to the request by the end of June. In Germany the proposal has provoked mixed reactions. At present the site of the former camp is listed as the “Auschwitz...

Knowing that there is a widespread misconception about the origin of and operation of the Nazi German Auschwitz Birkenau death camps, the Polish government is taking steps to change the name of the camps to emphasize that the camps were Nazi German facilities. This proposal to change the name has met with resistance from some quarters. At the same time it has stirred a sudden debate in Poland that has raised the ire of both the Jewish people who were prisoners at the camp, Polish veterans groups and the families of Polish people who were also prisoners at the camps....

The Polish government's request to change the official name of the "Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp" to "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau" has been met with criticism. Maram Stern, deputy secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, said that "they want to redefine history by changing the name". Although the camp had been built and run by Nazi Germany, everybody in the area had known about its existence and workers were recruited from the Polish population in the neighboring village. The government in Warsaw wants the history of Auschwitz, which is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, to be separated...