The voices of Auschwitz survivors may be fewer, but their stories remain as powerful as ever—a haunting reminder of humanity’s capacity for both unimaginable cruelty and enduring resilience.
“We were stripped of all humanity,” said 99-year-old Leon Weintraub, standing alongside three other survivors at the infamous Death Gate of the Birkenau extermination camp. His words reverberated through a gathering of world leaders and European royalty who joined 56 survivors to mark the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation.
For Tova Friedman, who was just five-and-a-half years old during the horrors of the Holocaust, memory is more than history—it’s a warning. “We were victims in a moral vacuum,” she recalled, vividly describing her childhood terror while holding her mother’s hand in a place where human life had no value.
A Grim Legacy
Between 1941 and 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau became a site of unparalleled suffering. Of the 1.1 million lives lost there, nearly a million were Jewish. Others included 70,000 Polish prisoners, 21,000 Roma, 15,000 Soviet POWs, and countless others targeted for their identity, beliefs, or way of life.
This was one of six death camps established in Nazi-occupied Poland. As the largest, Auschwitz has become a symbol of the Holocaust’s atrocities.
Memory as a Moral Compass
Under a massive white tent at Birkenau’s entrance, Piotr Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz Museum, emphasized the importance of preserving this painful legacy. “Memory hurts, memory helps, memory guides,” he said, addressing the survivors, many wearing blue-and-white scarves reminiscent of prisoner uniforms. “Without memory, there is no history, no experience, no point of reference.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda echoed this sentiment, vowing to safeguard the memory of all six camps on Polish soil.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres reminded the world that remembrance is not just a moral duty but a call to action. He warned of rising Holocaust denial and hate, citing Primo Levi’s poignant words: “Survival is a privilege that imposes the duty to bear witness.”
A Personal Pilgrimage
Among those who traveled to Auschwitz for the commemoration were King Charles III, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, and Denmark’s King Frederik and Queen Mary.
For Charles III, this marked a deeply personal journey as the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz. Fighting back tears, he laid a wreath in memory of the victims, later reflecting on the importance of remembering the “evils of the past” to build a kinder and more compassionate world.
Passing the Torch of Memory
As survivors age, their firsthand testimonies are transitioning into recorded history. Polish-born British survivor Mala Tribich, 94, who attended the event, stressed the importance of educating future generations: “We’ve seen the consequences of hate and what children are taught under despotism. We must guard against it.”
Lord Pickles, chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, also issued a stark warning about the dangers of Holocaust distortion: “We are not in a post-Holocaust world. We are seeing memory shift into history, and that’s daunting.”
A Call to Action
The stories of Auschwitz survivors carry a timeless message: the fight against intolerance, hatred, and indifference is never over. Remembering isn’t just about honoring the past—it’s about shaping a future where such atrocities are never repeated.
Let their voices guide us, for as long as we remember, there is hope.
