“I came to Poland to pay tribute to the millions of Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust during World War II. I also came to bow in memory of more than two hundred thousand of my countrymen. It is the tragedy of the whole world, and of Lithuania. We cannot revive the innocent victims. We cannot ease the pain of those who lost their loved ones. The only thing we can do is to keep their memory alive and search for historical truth,” said the President.
The President added that the occupation of countries by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union resulted in devastating consequences: states were destroyed, public structures were demolished, communities were set against each other, and their drive for revenge, hatred and aggression was fueled. We must never allow this to happen again, we must identify the hate-inciting forces,” said the President.
The Holocaust survivors and their relatives as well as a representative of the Memorial Foundation and director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum shared their heartbreaking stories at the ceremony. The world leaders honored the memory of victims with a prayer at the memorial.
Founded in the Nazi Germany-occupied territory of Poland, Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination camp. During 1940-1945 about 1.5 million people of different nationalities were killed there. The remaining survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp were released on January 27, 1945.
