Auschwitz liberation anniversary events to be held in Poland - official

The main international events to mark the 75th anniversary of liberation of the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau will be held on January 27, 2020 on the site of the former camp, Polish Ambassador to Israel Marek Magierowski has said.

He added that four days earlier, Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial institute is scheduled to organise on the same occasion a conference in Jersualem.

"We would like to kindly explain that a conference with foreign guests organised by Yad Vashem will take place in Jerusalem on January 23, 2020. The main international observances of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp - like every year - will be held on January 27 in Auschwitz-Birkenau," the diplomat tweeted on Monday night.

Earlier, the Jerusalem Post daily reported that Yad Vashem is organizing a major, one-day event, the World Holocaust Forum, in late January, that aspires to bring a number of world leaders to Jerusalem in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Among the world leaders expected to participate are US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The daily also wrote that Yad Vashem invited Polish President Andrzej Duda to the conference, but Warsaw has not yet decided whether Duda will attend.

Meanwhile, the head of the Polish President's Office Krzysztof Szczerski told PAP that Duda's participation in the Auschwitz liberation commemorative events organised by Yad Vashem is included in the preliminary plan of his foreign visits in the next year, but it is yet too early to finally confirm it.

The Jerusalem Post also wrote that the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland is organising a large event of its own at the death camp on the actual day of its liberation by Soviet troops, January 27, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. A similar event was held there on the 70th anniversary, attended by some 300 survivors, a number of world leaders and delegation from some 50 countries.

The Auschwitz concentration camp was built by Nazi Germany in 1940 to imprison Poles. Two years later Auschwitz II-Birkenau was constructed and became the place of extermination of Jews. Nazi Germany killed at least 1.1 million people there, mainly Jews, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners and people of other nationalities.