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Jewish leader to mark Auschwitz anniversary in Poland, skip Jerusalem event: report

22.01.2020 15:36
The head of the World Jewish Congress, Ron Lauder, will come to Poland to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz next week, broadcaster TVP Info has reported.
A 2008 aerial view of the site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland.
A 2008 aerial view of the site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland.Photo: EPA/PAWEL SAWICKI/www.auschwitz.org

Meanwhile, the American billionaire businessman and political activist has decided to skip the World Holocaust Forum, an event in Jerusalem that also aims to commemorate the Auschwitz liberation anniversary, the Polish state television broadcaster reported, citing Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

The World Jewish Congress, established in 1936, is an international organisation representing Jewish communities in about 100 countries.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has said he will not attend the Holocaust remembrance conference in Jerusalem because the organisers have not allowed him to speak at the event, alongside his counterparts from Russia, Israel, Germany and France.

The international conference is scheduled to take place at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Thursday.

Meanwhile, representatives from more than 50 countries and international organisations have confirmed they will take part in ceremonies in southern Poland on January 27 to commemorate 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp operated in German-occupied southern Poland between May 1940 and January 1945.

It was the largest of the German Nazi concentration and death camps.

More than 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, as well as Poles, Roma, Soviet POWs and people of many other nationalities, perished at the camp.

(gs)

Source: tvp.info