Commemorating 80 Years Since Auschwitz Liberation: Kate and William Attend Holocaust Memorial Day Event

By Anna Botting, in Auschwitz-Birkenau

This year’s commemoration at Auschwitz is significant. It may be the last time we see so many survivors, around 50, who traveled to share their emotional stories.

Many of these survivors were just children when they arrived here, taken from their parents. They witnessed unimaginable horrors. Those who were older or very young, or who looked sick or weak, were killed almost immediately.

The gas chambers awaited them, followed by the burning of their bodies. Their possessions were taken away, often with no hope of ever seeing their families again.

Some survived through desperate measures. They lied about their age during selections. Others jumped from trains while they were being transported to Auschwitz. Some had mothers who forged documents to pass them off as Christians.

Incredibly, some survivors were born just after the last of the gassing materials ran out.

Today, we heard many of these extraordinary stories. Survival here was a constant battle. Each moment at Birkenau was filled with struggles—staying unnoticed, enduring long hours of standing, working hard in conditions that sought to break them.

Surviving meant facing starvation and enduring brutal death marches, as the Nazis tried to hide their crimes.

Those who remained at Auschwitz-Birkenau faced one final selection. Weak from exhaustion, they spent ten days without food as the SS guards abandoned the camp.

Today, we remember the remnants of this horrific campaign. The survivors bravely share their stories of horror and pain, and for a few, tales of escape.