Świadkom historii towarzyszyli m.in. Premier RP Matusz Morawiecki, Wicepremier Beata Szydło, przedstawiciele władz państwowych Polski, grecki minister ds. polityki cyfryzacji, telekomunikacji i mediów Nikolaos Pappas, ambasadorowie i dyplomaci, przedstawiciele duchowieństwa, władz regionalnych, samorządów, pracownicy muzeów i miejsc pamięci. W 2018 r. obchodzimy 75. rocznicę uruchomienia na terenie obozu Auschwitz II-Birkenau czterech ogromnych komór gazowych wraz z krematoriami. Dlatego też wizualnym symbolem rocznicy była praca byłego więźnia Sonderkommando Davida Olère, który w swoich powojennych obrazach i rysunkach przedstawił tragedię ludzi mordowanych w komorach gazowych.
W czasie obchodów głos zabrały dwie byłe więźniarki Auschwitz, Maria Hörl i Bronisława Karakulska.
Maria Hörl urodziła się w 1942 r. jako Galina Bułchakowa. W czerwcu 1943 r. ujęta podczas pacyfikacji wsi białoruskich. Do Auschwitz została deportowana razem z matką i trójką rodzeństwa 15 kwietnia 1944 r. z Majdanka.
– O siostrze nie znalazłam żadnych informacji, o jej pobycie, wyglądzie, co działo się z nią w obozie. Być może nie byłyśmy razem. Jedyne co, to fakt, że 19 stycznia 1945 r. była przy życiu. To był ostatni raz, gdy matka nas widziała, ponieważ mogła nas tylko raz
w tygodniu widzieć i to około pół godziny. Matka została
wysłana do Ravensbrück. Stamtąd wprost do Rosji – mówiła. Galina została wyzwolona 27 stycznia 1945 r. i została umieszczona w domu dziecka: – Z obozu przewieziono nas do Harbutowic. Przez wiele lat nie wiedziałam nawet o tym. Dopiero na pierwszym spotkaniu z Dziećmi Oświecimia, od starszych z nich o tym się dowiedziałam. Pierwsze nasze spotkanie zostało zorganizowane przez kustosza Tadeusza Szymańskiego. On zaczął się zajmować poszukiwaniami dokumentów dotyczących dzieci Oświęcimia. Dzięki niemu mogliśmy być poinformowani o naszej przeszłości – opowiadała. W 1947 r. adoptowało ją małżeństwo z Krakowa. Swoją prawdziwą rodzinę odnalazła kilkadziesiąt lat później.
Bronisława Karakulska (z d. Horowitz) urodziła się w Krakowie w 1932 r. Podczas okupacji przebywała wraz z rodzicami i bratem Ryszardem w krakowskim getcie. Po likwidacji getta została przeniesiona do KL Płaszów, a następnie w została
zatrudniona w Fabryce Wyrobów Metalowych i Naczyń Emaliowanych na Zabłociu kierowanej przez Oskara Schindlera. W październiku 1944 r. razem z innymi więźniarkami znajdującymi się na „Liście Schindlera” została przywieziona do KL Auschwitz, a następnie wywieziona do Brünnlitz, gdzie przebywała do wyzwolenia.
– W czasie mojego pobytu w Auschwitz dwa razy zostałam w czasie selekcji uratowana od odstawienia do krematorium. Za pierwszym razem zostałam uratowana dzięki połknięciu brylantu, który mama dała aufseherin Orlowski. Za drugim razem uratowała mnie ciocia. Ukryto mnie w miedzianym węglowym piecu, gdzie siedziałam prawie dwie godziny. To że zostałam uratowana z Auschwitz, zawdzięczam osobie Oskara Schindlera, który przekonał komendanta Hoessa o konieczności pracy kobiet i dzieci w kierowanej przez niego fabryce amunicji. Na dzień dzisiejszy jestem jedyną mieszkającą w Krakowie ocalałą przez Oskara Schindlera osobą – mówiła.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that German crimes committed at Auschwitz were crimes during which the concept of evil and hatred were raised to a completely different level, unknown until then. "Theis evil, in its purest form, was directed against a man, directed against other nations. People who were brought here, were to be deprived of humanity. Humanity was not to be present here. And in some sense it was not. And I am not talking about those people were deprived of this humanity, not Jews, not Poles, not Roma, not Russians, only those who committed this horrible crime. They deprived themselves of the humanity," the prime minister said.
"This terrible crime that took place then, apart from separating itself from the world with barbed wire and a high wall, at the same time was also separated by ideology. Terrible, dark, horrifying, Hitler's, Nazi ideology. Therefore, there is not the slightest consent to any criminal ideologies, such as German Nazism or communism. And there is no permission for racism, antisemitism, for any such behavior. That is why we will remember all the mechanisms of death that were used then, because we owe this memory today to the living, but we also owe this memory fo the victims of those times," he emphasized.
"In the face of such a tragedy as the Shoah all politicians and rulers, but also all citizens, should ask - what comes next? What comes next? And the answer to this question is at the same time very difficult and easy. We all should fight and care for the truth, for justice and we should give hope to the world hope," concluded Prime Minister Morawiecki.
Minister Wojciech Kolarski from the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland said: "In the name of universal human heritage and future, we, the Poles, will always cherish the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and testify about German crimes. From the very beginning we tried to alert the free world and reveal the truth about the Holocaust. The brave activity of Witold Pilecki, mentioned here, and the mission of Jan Karski are examples of the commitment of the Polish Underground State. The rescue was carried out by the Council for Aid to the Jews "Żegota", operating by the Government Delegation to Poland. Then and today we remember that three million people murdered during the Holocaust - almost half of all its victims - were citizens of the Polish Republic, our fellow citizens."
"Poles and Jews are exceptional custodians of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and depositaries of the message that comes from this tragedy for the international community. Many people, communities and institutions fulfill these tasks with great dedication, with the key role of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, which has developed universal principles of preserving sites of extermination, and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem." he added.
Israeli ambassador Anna Azari, referring to the changes that are introduced in Poland to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, which, she noted, has caused controversies in Israel, said: "I hope that as always, as good friends, Poland and Israel will find their way and a common language of remebering history together. Let us remember all those murdered in the Holocaust." "Israel understands who built KL Auschwitz and who built other camps. Everyone knows that it was not built by Poles," she added.
The Ambassador of the Russian Federation Sergey Andreyev said: "Auschwitz is the place where the cruel tragedy of the past should constitute a strict lesson for the current and future generations, where permanent immunity for the disease of historical amnesia should be produced. Here there should not be any doubts concerning the differentiation between the oppressors, the victims and the liberators. Let the frenzy of Auschwitz never happen again. Let the sky of peace dominate over us all."
The director of the Auschwitz Memorial Dr Piotr M. A. Cywiński emphasized that "the entire modern world is now living more and more as if they have not learnt much from the tragedy of the Shoah and concentration camps". „We are unable to efficiently react to new manifestations of genocidal frenzy. Starvation and death caused by continuous fights do not motivate our institutions and societies to act efficiently. Arms trade and exploitation of nearly free labour overwhelm the poorest regions of the world," he said adding: "At the same time, our democracies suffer from the increase in populism, national egotism, new forms of extreme hate speech. The remilitarization of relationships between the people desecrates our streets and cities. Brown-shirt like groups profane our streets and cities. Did we really change so much within these two or three generations?"
"What is happening to our world? What is happening to us? Has the memory ceased to constitute a commitment? And if it is the hope which dies last, then where else is it to be rooted if not in memory? In the culture which tries to live without being conscious of death, is there still any place for the commemoration of victims?" he said.
"We do not want to answer these questions ourselves, it is easier to put them away, ridicule or discredit. And it does not matter what is happening in Congo, Myanmar or in a neighbouring district or stadium," he stressed.
The second part of the ceremony took place at the Memorial to the Victims on the site of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The rabbis and clergy of various Christian denominations jointly read psalm 42 from the Second Book of Psalms, and participants of the ceremony placed grave candles at the monument commemorating the victims of Auschwitz.
Earlier, on 27 January, survivors along with the management and employees of the Auschwitz Memorial laid wreaths in the courtyard of Block 11 in Auschwitz I. On the occasion of the anniversary an exhibition was opened in the temporary exhibition hall in Block 12 on the site of the former Auschwitz I entitled “Letters... Collection of Władysław Rath". The exhibition presented a fragment of a large collection of documents related to Auschwitz and history of world war II, ghettos and other concentration camps. It was created by a Holocaust survivor Władysław Rath and handed over to the Museum by his family last year
Until the liberation of the camp sites 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 for 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 Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Byli więźniowie Auschwitz na obchodach rocznicowych. Wszystkie zdjęcia w artykule: Jarosław Praszkiewicz
Bronisława Karakulska