most trustful and innocent – are always the children’, Piotr Cywiński emphasized.
After official presentations, prayers were said by rabbi Michael Schudrich, bishop Roman Pindel from the Roman Catholic Church, bishop Atanazy from the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church as well as bishop Adrian Korczago from the Evangelical-Augsburg Church.
The second part of commemorative events was devoted to a panel discussion “Influence of the war and Holocaust on shaping children’s identity”. Among its participants there were Lea Balint, Holocaust Survivor, Melissa Hacker, President of Kindertransport Association as well as Janina Rekłajtis, Auschwitz Survivor.
On the day of the anniversary - as a symbol of remembrance and solidarity with the Victims - the Museum Director Piotr M. A. Cywiński laid a wreath at the Death Wall in Auschwitz I and a placed a candle at the monument in Birkenau.
It is estimated that at least 232 thousand children were deported to Auschwitz, including ca. 216 thousand of Jewish origin, 11 thousand Roma, ca. 3 thousand Poles, over 1 thousand Belarusians and several hundred Russians, Ukrainians and other. In total, ca. 23 thousand children and teenagers were registered in the camp, with slightly over 700 of them liberated in Auschwitz in January 1945.
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