has become more dangerous and less predictable," Dr. Yacov Livne said.
In conclusion, the director of the Auschwitz Museum, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, spoke.
"We believed in a world that is more just, more friendly and more humane. In a world to be founded on human rights. We believed in memory while living in the post-war era. Today, we are witnessing a complete shift in the world as we know it,” he said.
"We are all standing at a significant turning point in history. Currently, some liberators attack other liberators. They commit acts of rape and murder. In Israel, the land of the Shoah survivors, peace seems to be nowhere in sight. Conflicts and wars have flared up on a global scale. Today, the international security system created after the war is a mere shadow of itself. Europe has been unable to unite its efforts and protect itself against the return of antisemitism, racism, xenophobia," Piotr Cywiński said.
"Acknowledging that the post-war period has not faded into oblivion, the constructed post-war identity is a constant reminder, amplifying its warnings. As the times become more complex, it is crucial to recognise the complete inseparability of memory and identity. We may have difficulty predicting the future. However, its creation begins with the choices made today, by each of us," he emphasized.
The second part of the anniversary commemorations took place at the Monument to the Victims in the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, where rabbis and clergy of various Christian denominations recited prayers, and participants of the ceremony placed candles, commemorating all the victims of Auschwitz.
Earlier on 27 January, Survivors together with the directors and staff of the Auschwitz Memorial laid wreaths in the courtyard of Block 11 at the Auschwitz I site.
Until the liberation of the camp by soldiers of the Red Army, German Nazis murdered approx. 1.1 million people in Auschwitz, mostly Jews, but also Poles, the Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities. Auschwitz is to the world today, a symbol of the Holocaust and atrocities of World War II. In 2005, the United Nations adopted 27 January as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.