86TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE DEPORTATION
OF THE FIRST POLES
TO KL AUSCHWITZ.
NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
Auschwitz Memorial
June 14, 1940, is recognized as the date marking the beginning of the operation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. On that day, the Germans deported a group of 728 Poles from the prison in Tarnów to Auschwitz. Among them were soldiers of the September Campaign, members of underground independence organizations, high school and university students, as well as a small group of Polish Jews. They were assigned camp numbers from 31 to 758.
The commemoration of the 86th anniversary of this event was held under the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki. By decision of the Polish Parliament, June 14 is observed as the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of German Nazi Concentration Camps and Extermination Camps.
The commemorative events held at the Memorial were attended by 13 Auschwitz Survivors, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Marta Cienkowska, as well as representatives of the President of the Republic of Poland, national and local authorities, the diplomatic corps, churches and religious communities, the Roma community, state institutions, associations and foundations, delegations of the organisers of the commemoration event, numerous institutions and civil society organisations, as well as all those wishing to honour the memory of the victims of the German Nazis.
In her address, Minister Marta Cienkowska said: “History shows that great tragedies do not begin with camps, barbed wire, or gas chambers. They begin much earlier. They begin with words that divide people into ‘us’ and ‘them’. With acceptance of the language of contempt. With indifference to the exclusion of others. With the belief that someone else’s dignity may be less important than our own,” she said.
“That is precisely why remembrance remains a contemporary task. Not in order to compare the present with the past, but so that we do not lose the ability to recognize boundaries that must never be crossed. And I believe that remembrance is one of the foundations of a responsible society,” added Minister Marta Cienkowska.
“Today, we bow our heads before all the victims of German Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps. The fullest expression of respect for the victims is not merely words of remembrance. It is a world in which one person is capable of standing up for another, a world in which no one remains indifferent to hatred. Because remembrance is important. But perhaps what matters even more is simply what we do with that remembrance,” she emphasized.
A letter addressed to the participants in the commemoration by the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, was read by Presidential Adviser Beata Kempa.
The President wrote: “The trauma is still present not only in the memory of Survivors and witnesses, but also in subsequent generations of Poles. History textbooks, archives, museums and memorial sites, diaries and novels, films, accounts by older relatives, family chronicles and photograph albums, and inscriptions on graves are the principal, though not the only, sources of knowledge. We must carry the burden of this knowledge into the future. It is knowledge of inhuman ruthlessness and cruelty.
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