On the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation, beneath startling blue skies, the youngest survivors of the Nazi death camp stood before world leaders to share their searing memories – perhaps for the final time. Their message: rising antisemitism threatens to reawaken the hatred that enabled one of history’s darkest chapters.
“Memory Hurts, Memory Guides”
In front of the infamous gate to the former camp, four survivors – the youngest 86, the oldest 99 – recounted the incomprehensible horrors they endured as children. Tova Friedman, taken to Auschwitz at age 5, described vivid memories of “desperate women’s cries” and the “terrible stink” of the crematorium chimneys. Now 86, she implored, “We are here to proclaim that we can never, ever allow history to repeat itself.”
Rising Far-Right Threatens Hard-Won Lessons
But eight decades after liberation, Friedman cautioned that “our Jewish-Christian values are once more overshadowed by prejudice, fear, suspicion, extremism.” With far-right parties gaining traction across Europe and Holocaust disinformation spreading online, survivors fear the dearly bought lessons of the past are being forgotten.
“Let’s take seriously what the enemies of democracy preach. We survivors understand the consequence of being ‘different’…we have personally experienced it.”
Leon Weintraub, 99, Auschwitz survivor
Confronting an “Age-Old Hatred”
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder drew a direct line from the antisemitism that fueled the Holocaust to recent attacks against Jews, warning that this “age-old hatred” has found “willing supporters” once again. “When Auschwitz was liberated, the world saw where the step-by-step progress of antisemitism leads,” he stated gravely. “It leads right here…Things are not OK.”
Guarding Memories as Survivors Fade
The 80th anniversary carried extra weight as the number of living survivors dwindles each year. From over 1,000 attending 20 years ago, organizers expect perhaps only 50 survivors at the 85th memorial. Museum director Piotr Cywinski emphasized the critical importance of the survivors’ presence, noting “they shape our memory” as witnesses to one of humanity’s greatest atrocities.
- Over 1 million people, mostly Jews, murdered at Auschwitz between 1940-1945
- Soviet troops liberated ~7,000 emaciated survivors on January 27, 1945
Preserving Truth for Future Generations
But distortion of Holocaust history, spurred by online disinformation, threatens to erase this vital testimony as the firsthand accounts of survivors fade. A recent poll revealed significant percentages of young European adults have never heard of the Holocaust, could not name any concentration camps, and have encountered denial or distortion of the genocide, especially on social media.
“For today’s generations, the Holocaust is textbook history, and textbook history is a much more fragile history, much easier to distort.”
Paweł Sawicki, Auschwitz museum spokesperson
Survivors and museum organizers are racing against time to record these vital stories and preserve authentic sites like Auschwitz as eternal testaments, so that future generations may touch this tangible evidence of history’s darkest capabilities – and humanity’s resilience to rebuild.
