Commemorating Auschwitz Liberation

“Seventy years ago, on January 27, 1945 Soviet soldiers liberated the remaining prisoners in the Auschwitz extermination camp. Up to then more than one million European Jews, Roma and Sinti and others had been murdered in Auschwitz.

Reinhard Bütikofer and Monica Frassoni, Co-Chairs of the European Green Party, comment on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp:

“Seventy years ago, on January 27, 1945 Soviet soldiers liberated the remaining prisoners in the Auschwitz extermination camp. Up to then more than one million European Jews, Roma and Sinti and others had been murdered in Auschwitz.

“We will not forget the horrors of Auschwitz – it is and will remain a painful part of German history. As Europeans we want to ensure collective remembrance of the Shoah, given that fewer and fewer survivors are able to bear witness themselves.

“Antisemitism, racism and xenophobia are not dead in Europe. The killing of Jews in Paris and Brussels reminds us of this dark side of European reality. We pledge to continue fighting against it and against all types of prejudice. By doing that we honor the memory of the millions of victims of the Shoah.”