Germany's Merkel visits Auschwitz
amid rising anti-semitism
 |
| The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moraweicki at Auschwitz (AFP) |
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has visited the former
German Nazi death camp Auschwitz amid concerns about rising anti-semitism in
Germany and Europe and brought with here a massive. She carefully walked
through the gates of the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau with
the notorious words "Arbeit Macht Frei."
By Stefan J. Bos
That was a cynical phrase that meant "work
will set you free." The truth was that inmates were subjected to
either immediate execution, painful scientific experiments, or forced
labor. This was the first time Merkel visited the site in her 14 years as
Chancellor.
Accompanied by the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki
she also paid tribute to the victims at what is known as the death wall where
many were executed. Merkel and Morawiecki bowed their heads before two
wreaths bearing their nations' colors.
The Chancellor appeared visibly emotional. At one point, she
nearly fell while leaving the death wall of what was one of the world's most
horrific areas. More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed
here — many of them in the notorious gas chambers.
Rising anti-semitism
Speaking at a gathering that included former Auschwitz
inmates, Merkel said she visited the site at a time of mounting concerns in
Germany and other European nations about rising anti-Semitism.
Chancellor Merkel said, "We are experiencing worrisome
racism, increasing intolerance and a wave of racist hate crimes," she
says.
We are witnessing and experiencing an attack on the
fundamental values of liberal democracy. And a very dangerous historical
revisionism that serves a hostility that is directed against specific groups."
revisionism that serves a hostility that is directed against specific groups."
She added: "We are focusing our attention, especially
on anti-Semitism which poses a threat to Jewish life in Germany, in Europe and
elsewhere. We have to be more clear, and state that we have will not tolerate
any form of accept anti-Semitism. Everyone ought to feel safe and at home in
Germany and Europe."
Her stay lasting several hours also included a visit to a
crematorium and the conservation laboratory, where old leather shoes were laid
out on a table, and putting of candles at Birkenau, the part
of the vast complex where Jews were subjected to mass murder in gas chambers.
Merkel's visit came ahead of the 75th anniversary of the
liberation by Soviet troops of what was one of the world's most horrific sites.
Message to the world
She said the remnants of Auschwitz send a strong message to
the world today. "Auschwitz, more than any other site, reminds us and
urges us and places us under the obligation every one of us to be vigilant and
to preserve humanity and to protect our neighbors' dignity."
Merkel also brought a donation of 60 million euros. The
money will go to a fund to conserve the physical remnants of the site — The
barracks, watchtowers, and personal items like shoes and suitcases of those
killed.
That brings the total German donation to 120 million euros
and makes Germany by far the most generous of 38 countries that have
contributed to the site. Since becoming Chancellor in 2005, Merkel has paid her
respects at other Nazi concentration camps, and she has been five times to Yad
Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum and memorial.
Still, Poland's Foreign Ministry called her to visit
"historic," referring to the unique status Auschwitz has in the
world's collective memory.
The ministry also noted that it was just the third visit of
an incumbent head of a German government.
Most of the victims were Jews transported from across Europe
to be killed in gas chambers. But tens of thousands of others were killed there
too, including Poles, Soviet prisoners of war and Roma, or Gypsies. The Soviet
army liberated the camp on January 27, 1945.
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