President Duda: Instrumental use of Auschwitz for any purpose is tantamount to desecration of the memory of the victims

The First Republic was the first target of Nazi Germany„`s aggression; it established the largest European underground resistance movement against the Third Reich; its soldiers were fighting against Germans on all fronts of WWII from the first to the last day of the war

— emphasized President Andrzej Duda in his speech during the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.

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As he pointed out „the genocide perpetrated here by the functionaries of the Nazi Third Reich, claimed more than one million three hundred thousand human lives”. He stressed that „among them were Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war – but first and foremost Jews, of whom over one million one hundred thousand were slain here”.

During the ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, the President emphasized that Poles „came to the aid of the murdered Jews, putting at risk their own lives, and were the first ones to reveal to the world the truth about the Shoah and demanded response from the world statesmen”.

The President emphasized that he spoke „on behalf of the Republic of Poland, which was the first target of Nazi Germany„`s aggression; which territory was occupied and its nation subjected to terror; which established the largest European underground resistance movement against the Third Reich; which soldiers were fighting against Germans on all fronts of WWII from the first to the last day of the war; which six million citizens died at the hands of Nazis, including three million Jews, and which makes an utmost effort to preserve this place: the premises of the Auschwitz camp – as well as all other places of the Shoah: the former German camps located in our territory”.

The President stressed that Auschwitz must not be allowed to be used instrumentally for „any purpose”.

Falsifying the history of the Second World War, denying the crimes of genocide and denying the Holocaust, and instrumental use of Auschwitz for any purpose, is tantamount to desecration of the memory of victims whose ashes are scattered here

— said the president.

Tłum. K.J.