On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp, Saxony's Commissioner for Jewish Life, Thomas Feist, is calling for resolute action against all forms of anti-Semitism and hatred. "The memory of the Holocaust must never lose its relevance," he warned in view of the increase in anti-Semitic derailments in Germany and Europe. "Auschwitz stands as a symbol for the darkest time in human history."
On January 27, 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated the German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Wehrmacht-occupied Poland. The National Socialists had deported around 1.3 million people to the camp. Around 1.1 million were killed, including around one million European Jews. The day has been a national day of remembrance since 1996.
