Jewish and Christian leaders prayed over the ruins of gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau as some warned on International Holocaust Remembrance Day of rising xenophobic hatred against Jews, Muslims and others.
Camp survivors gathered today with political leaders and representatives of Poland's Jewish community at the site where Germany murdered about 1.1 million people during World War II, mostly Jews from across Europe, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and others.
Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, who is from the Polish town where the Auschwitz memorial and museum is located, Oswiecim, recalled the "destruction of humanity" and the "ocean of lost lives and hopes" that resulted from the German genocide.
"It's an open wound that may close sometimes but it shall never be fully healed and it must not be forgotten," she said. Dozens of Auschwitz survivors began a day of commemorations by placing wreaths and flowers at the infamous execution wall on the 72nd anniversary of the camp's liberation by Soviet soldiers.
The United Nations recognized January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005, and many commemorative events were held across the world.
"Tragically, and contrary to our resolve, anti-Semitism continues to thrive," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "We are also seeing a deeply troubling rise in extremism, xenophobia, racism and anti-Muslim hatred. Irrationality and intolerance are back."
Guterres vowed to "be in the front line of the battle against anti-Semitism and all other forms of hatred."
In Germany, outgoing Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his nation sticks by its obligation to take responsibility for the crimes committed by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler.
Noting the political instability in the world today, Steinmeier said, "History should be a lesson, warning and incentive all at the same time. There can and should be no end to remembrance."
In Albania's capital, Tirana, an olive tree was planted during the inauguration of a downtown garden commemorating Albanians who saved Jews during the war.
Speaking alongside the Israeli ambassador, Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati said Albanians are proud their predecessors handed over no Jews to the Nazis who occupied Albania from 1943-44.
Albania was the only country in Europe where the number of the Jews during World War II increased after the Muslim majority population provided refuge to Jews fleeing other countries.
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