Holocaust Survivors Remembered at Auschwitz.

It has been 64 years since anybody was in the concentration camp called Auschwitz. On that last day, the Soviet's came in and liberated the camp, the people were now free. Some were near death then, all were pencil thin, they were nothing more than walking skeleton's...but they were still alive! Millions were taken to concentration camps, millions died in them. Most were Jews of the countries conquered by Hitler. But they were not the only people taken, there were the Jewish sympathizers, mentally retarded, and other outcast's of society, to make up the total 6 million plus people who endured and died in the camps. They died by evil, the evil who starved them, took them to the showers then gassed, the evil who did unmentionable expirements on them.

In the Polish winter of this day, January 27, 2009, the survivors come together to mark the day they were set free. Tuesday's gathering included a wreath laying, prayers and ceremonies. German President, Horst Koehler said he praised the young people for wanting to learn about their history and to honor the victims of the Holocaust. He concluded in a speech to Parliament, the responsibility of the Shoah is part of German identity. Ceremonies were also planned at the former Sachsenhause concentration camp outside of Berlin.

In Warsaw, they drove an empty antique tram car through the busy neighborhoods that was once the Nazi-occupied Jewish ghetto's. The empty tram symbolized the absence of those that died during the Holocaust.

Now that the survivors who are left, are now getting fewer and frail, so are the camps themselves. Polish officials say it would take nearly 130 million dollars to repair and maintain the sites in Poland, and the International community is not putting in enough. The camps are now crumbling and some area's off limits due to the fear of collapse.

Monday, the Germans said they praised Polish effort's to keep the camps, and said they would help out, but no amount was stated. The Museum was set up in 1947, and was granted 13 million last year from the Polish government. By publishing survivor account's, showing documentaries to visitors, and fee's from guides. Private donations only account for a small amount of the income needed.

*Side Note: I have read piece's where the survivors say, "Don't remember us for the sake of remembering our names.....Remember for the sake of the children of today, your children and grandchildren." Never forget, and Never Again.

Sources:

The Holocaust Survivor Website

http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/

Fox News Story.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,483467,00.html