Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek have confirmed their participation at commemorative events marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz on 27 January. According to the press office of the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Polish President Lech Kaczyński and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu are also likely to attend.
The commemoration will be held in a special tent erected at the site of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, right next to the so-called Central Sauna building, in which newly arrived prisoners, mainly Jews, were registered and subjected to disinfection.
Brief addresses are to be delivered by two former inmates of the camp, a Pole and a Jew, and by representatives of the International Auschwitz Council.
Later, the participants are to march to the memorial to the victims of Auschwitz and pay tribute to some 1.1 million Jews, Poles, Romanies, Soviet prisoners and representatives of other nations who perished in Auschwitz. Over 200,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in fighting for the liberation of the camp.
(mk/pg)