"Cześć!"

 

President decorates Red Army Auschwitz liberators

Cracow, Jan. 27: President Aleksander Kwasniewski decorated with high state distinctions five soldiers of the Red Army, who participated in the liberation of Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. During the Forum "Let my people live" in Cracow the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland was given to Yakov Vinnichenko. Nikolai Chertkov and Genry Koptev- Gomolov received the Knight's Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic.Anatoly Shapiro and Ivan Martinushkin received distinctions in absentia. The first was granted the Officer's Cross and the second the Knight's Cross of the order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Putin at commemorations of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation

Cracow, Jan. 27: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived on Thursday morning at the Cracow-based Juliusz Slowacki Theatre to participate in the commemorations of the 60th anniversary of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation. Putin was due in Cracow on Wednesday but the date was put off for Thursday due to adverse weather conditions. The Russian president told the forum that "today, 60 years after the tragedy we perceive the Holocaust not only as the national tragedy of Jews but as the catastrophe of the entire humanity." "Nazis picked up Poland as the site of a total, mass extermination of people, above all people of Jewish nationality. The Polish soil turned into the epicentre of the Holocaust. It became the place of the bloody realisation of Nazi racist theories according to which other nations were subhumans (Untermenschen)," Putin said.

Katzav: Allies did nothing to stop Holocaust

Cracow, Jan. 27: The Allies did nothing to stop the extermination of Jews; by bombing the camp in Auschwitz and railways leading to it they could prevent the continuation of the murder, Israeli President Moshe Katzav told the Forum "Let My People Live". "It is hard for us to forget that in the 20th century the world remained silent when the Jewish nation was being exterminated," Katzav said. He recalled that Palestine was closed for Jews fleeing Nazis."The Allies knew about the extermination of the European Jews and unfortunately failed to come forward with any initiative. They could save hundreds of thousands of Jews from gas chambers," the Israeli president said. He recalled anti-Semitism prevailing in Europe at that time and stressed the slaughter could have been prevented if the State of Israel had existed. The Israeli president called on the world's youth to protest against any case of racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.  "We appeal to the European Union: Please do not let Nazism take root in the European youth's minds."

Yushchenko: no room for anti-Semitism in Ukraine

Cracow, Jan. 27: I can promise that there will be no room for anti- Semitism, xenophobia and national disputes in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko told the "Let my people live" Forum. Yushchenko said that the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp was for him and his family a special and sacred place as his father had been sent there and received the camp number 11367. "Tens of thousands of soldiers were killed in this place, soldiers and comrades-in-arms of my father. This is the pain I can feel and this pain is alive today. This pain is very special for me as this is a healing pain," the Ukrainian president said and added that he wanted all his compatriots and all citizens of the world to share this pain with him. "As only this pain and memory can give us strength and wisdom", he added.

U.S. Vice President addresses "Let my people live" Forum

Cracow, Jan. 27: In the concentration camps in Europe a man committed one of the worst crimes one could even imagine, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday during the "Let my people live" Forum in Cracow. Auschwitz is the biggest cemetery in the world where one cannot find any graves but only the ashes of countless human beings, he stressed. The U.S. Vice president stressed that on the day of the anniversary we should express gratitude to the liberators and to those who were fighting to free the continent from tyranny. Let us remember that these unspeakable atrocities did not happen in some far-off place without any civilization but in the heart of the civilized world, Cheney said. Warning against the Holocaust, Cheney stressed that the Holocaust took place in a concrete historical period but was not an isolated event. The tragedy of the camps shows that evil is real and must be called by its name and must be confronted, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney stressed and added that the tragedy reminds us that anti-Semitism starts with words but does not end with words. Let us oppose to intolerance and hatred before they are transformed into committed atrocities, he concluded.

Chirac opens French exhibition in Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: French President Jacques Chirac opened a permanent exhibition devoted to people deported from France to and murdered in Auschwitz in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on Thursday. The French delegation was welcomed by former Auschwitz inmate Wladyslaw Bartoszewski in front of the gate which carries the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" inscription. The president was accompanied by Simone Veil, also former Auschwitz inmate. Chirac and Veil unveiled a plaque marking the date of opening the exhibition by the president on the wall of Block 20. The exhibition "Deported from Francji to KL Auschwitz" features the fate of six people: Pierre Masse, George  Halpern, Jean Lemberg, Charlotte Delbo and the couple of Hersch and Sara Beznos. The personal experiences of the six serve as a background for presenting the situation of Jews in France from 1939, Nazi occupation, the French Resistance and support actions. The exhibitions features nearly 1,000 photos of Jewish children from France murdered in Birkenau.

Main ceremonies commemorating KL Auschwitz liberation

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: A signal given by an approaching train inaugurated main ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation on Thursday afternoon. The commemorations were attended by delegation from over 40 countries including Presidents of Poland, Israel, Russia, France, Ukraine and Germany Aleksander Kwasniewski, Moshe Katzav, Vladimir Putin, Jacques Chirac, Viktor Yushchenko, Horst Koehler and U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney.The ceremonies took place on the premises of the former concentration camp in Birkenau at the foot of the International Monument to the Victims of Fascism near a railroad platform on which the Nazis conducted selections of prisoners. On behalf of Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoners speeches were delivered by Wladyslaw Bartoszewski (prisoner No. 4427), French citizen of Jewish origin Simone Veil (prisoner No. 78651) and Romani Rose who spoke on behalf of the Roma people. Next they signed the Charter of the International Education Centre about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. Papal Nuncio to Poland Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk read out a message of John Paul II. Later official speeches were given by Presidents Kwasniewski, Putin and Katzav. Cantor Symcha Keller from Lodz played a shofar call bringing the ceremony to the end. Jews play the shofar only on special occasions. Prayers for Auschwitz victims were said in Hebrew, Latin and Polish.

Bartoszewski: I did not imagine I could outlive Hitler

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: When as eighteen-year old Pole I stood for the first time at the assembly square of Auschwitz I - as Schutzhaeftling number 4427 - among five thousand and a half other Poles it did not even come to my mind that I would outlive Hitler and survive World War Two, professor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski said. We, the Polish prisoners, were alone during the first fifteen months of the existence of this horrible place. The free world did not pay any interest in our sufferings and our deaths despite tremendous efforts by a secret resistance organization in the camp to sent the information to the outside world, Bartoszewski said speaking on behalf of former Auschwitz prisoners. "If Poles or Russians were sub-humans for Germans in Auschwitz- Birkenau, then Jews from France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, countries of the then Yugoslavia, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were treated not like sub-humans but like vermin," Bartoszewski said."None of the world countries reacted adequately to the news coming from Poland about the Auschwitz tragedy," Bartoszewski said."The Polish resistance movement kept on informing and warning the free world. In the last quarter of 1942 the governments of Great Britain and the United States were precisely informed what was going on in Auschwitz-Birkenau owing to a mission of Polish emissary Jan Karski as well as other reports," Bartoszewski said."The Polish foreign minister in London on December 10, 1942 sent a not to the governments of the United Nations appealing for "not only of condemning the crimes committed by the Germans and punishing the criminals, but also for finding means offering the hope that Germany might be effectively restrained from continuing to apply its methods of mass extermination". No effective measures were found and in fact no attempts were made to find them. And at that moment over a half of the future victims were still alive," Bartoszewski stressed. The only result of the Polish initiative was a short declaration of the 12 allied countries concerning the responsibility for the extermination of Jews published on December 17, 1942. In the declaration, which did not mention the name of Auschwitz- Birkenau, the governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the Soviet Union, the Great Britain, the United States, Yugoslavia and the French National Committee, admitted that they were aware of the fate of Jews "in Poland, which has been made the principal Nazi slaughterhouse", and promised to punish those responsible for the crime. During my life I took part in hundreds of regional and international commemorations but I think that there will be never again a ceremony like today's one. We must ask ourselves and the entire world how much truth of the horrible experience of totalitarianism we managed to pass on to younger generations. I think that quite a lot but not enough. And being here and now we must take a decision - as the last will of prisoners who are passing away - concerning the work of the Centre of Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. Graves inspire an ordinary man to reflection. But there are no graves here. So in this place where this unimaginable crime was committed this reflection must be transformed into special responsibility and lasting memory of what had happened. And let me conclude my address with the words from the Book of Job, which are significant both for Jews and Christians: "O, earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry find no resting place", Bartoszewski said.

Kwaśniewski: Auschwitz-Birkenau was hell on earth

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: "Where we are now gathered, no words can render the entire terrifying truth about the horrors committed in this place. But we must speak, remember, cry out: this was hell on Earth," President Aleksander Kwasniewski said during the main ceremony at the site of the former Nazi camp Auschwitz- Birkenau."Here, humiliation, fear, pain, suffering, death - they were the everyday. The monstrosity of this crime is overwhelming" the president said. "Nazi „death factories” were planned in cold blood. Disciplined butchers fervently did their job to make sure that the crematory stacks kept spilling out smoke. We still cannot forget that „people brought this fate upon people”. We can never accept this," the president stressed.

Putin: attempts to rewrite history are unacceptable

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: "Standing on this tormented soil we must firmly and unequivocally say that any attempts to rewrite history and place killers and their victims, liberators and occupiers on the equal footing are immoral and unacceptable," Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the main ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of liberating the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp."Today we pay tribute to the memory of all those who were mercilessly and in cold-blood killed by the fascist barbarians not only here in Oswiecim but elsewhere. We bow our heads before tens of millions of people from different countries of the world, who survived the hell of concentration camps, who were shot and tortured to death, who died of starvation and diseases. We bow our heads before all the victims of that inhumane war launched by the fascists," Putin said. "It is said that time heals. It does, indeed. But as we stand here in one of the most horrible concentration camps 60 years after its liberation everything that happened here still causes horror, indignation and shiver.It is impossible and unfathomable to comprehend that people are capable of such atrocities, that they may be prone to such a truly universal insanity. It is impossible to ever reconcile with the fact that it all really happened," the Russian President stressed. „Terrorism is not less dangerous or perfidious than fascism”, stressed Putin. It is all the same merciless - and already it claimed thousands of innocent lives.As there were no „good” and „bad” fascists there cannot be „good” and „bad”  terrorists. Any double standards here are absolutely unacceptable and deadly dangerous for the civilization. Putin paid the tribute to bravery of of Soviet soldiers of whom 600,000 fell liberating Poland. "We will never forget that the Soviet Union paid a very steep price for its Great Victory. He also addressed the world leaders: "To those who remained here forever we are responsible for not letting this happen again. Never and toward anybody." He added that the Thursday's ceremony in fact opens 60-th anniversary of the great victory. The celebration in Moscow in May, where many of us will gather again, will become its culminating event, he said.

Katzav: destruction was work of nation of renowned scientists, musicians

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: "The destruction was the work of a nation who produced renowned scientists and musicians. Many knew of the murder but were indifferent. The world knew about the extermination but remained silent," President of the State of Israel Moshe Katzav said. "We know that Europe was a land occupied by the German-Nazi regime. But we also remember that in European countries there was rabid anti-Semitism which left the Jews with no escape and without hope. Opposition and hesitation of the Allies to bomb the death camps and to destroy the railways carrying the Jews to them, claimed more victims from our people, and this too remains a mark on the forehead of humanity. I wish to honor the exceptional persons, members of the Polish people and other nations, Righteous Among the Nations, who felt the pain of the persecuted, who provided shelter and thereby risked their lives," Moshe Katzav said.

Romani Rose: Auschwitz is a place remembrance

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: Auschwitz is not only a site of remembrance but also a warning in the face of today's crimes against the humankind, Romani Rose, the Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma said. But there are no words in which to describe what our compatriots experienced here, Rose said and added that Auschwitz and names of other camps left a lasting mark on the collective memory of our minority and will also shape the awareness of our future generations.

Veil: 60 years ago world stood dumbstruck to discover greatest cemeteries of all times

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: Sixty years ago, the electrical fences around the Auschwitz Birkenau camps were fallen and the world stood dumbstruck to discover the greatest cemeteries of all times, former Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoner and President of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah and former President of the European parliament Simone Veil said. More than one and a half million of human beings were exterminated here, most of them sent to gas chambers right upon arrival, their only guilt being that they were born Jews, she stressed.

Horst Koehler visits Nazi Auschwitz camp

Oswiecim, Jan. 27: German President Horst Koehler on Thursday visited KL Auschwitz I (Stammlager) while attending commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the death camp liberation. Horst Koehler, accompanied by representatives of German Jews and Roma including Romani Rose went in the camp through the gate with the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" inscription, went along one of the alleys to the building of former crematorium I. From there the German president went to the premises of the former Nazi death camp of Birkenau, where the main ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of camp liberation will be held.

Jewish medals for presidents of Russia and Poland

Warsaw, Jan. 27: President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski were decorated with the Silver Star of David Medals awarded to them by Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar during the commemoration ceremonies at the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Thursday. Rabbi Lazar who addressed those gathered at the commemorations said he wanted to express gratitude of the Jewish community to both presidents. He said "Jews will never forget heroism and sacrifice of soldiers of the Red Army which suffered so great losses during liberation of this land and the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp." He expressed gratitude to President Kwasniewski "who has the courage to speak openly about the Holocaust on this earth and remind the world that this lesson should never be forgotten."

Komorowski, Reiter on signs of ignorance in some media

Warsaw, Jan. 28: According to Citizens Platform MP Bronislaw Komorowski and former Polish Ambassador to Germany Janusz Reiter suggestions appearing in some media of coresponsibility of Poles for the extermination of Jews at KL Auschwitz is as a sign of ignorance, manipulation an lack of historical knowledge. Thursday edition of New York Times wrote that the Auschwitz liberation "commemoration means different things to each nation...for Poland and other Central European countries it is both part of a gradual recognition of their complicity in the killing and an opportunity to draw closer to Europe..."Komorowski commenting for Radio Zet on Friday stressed that such "nonsense" statements about Poles may be an attempt to dump responsibility for the complete lack of reaction to defend the Jews dying at Auschwitz.He recalled that in principle only Poles acted to help Auschwitz inmates, only Poles aided those who escaped from the camp and added that Poland was the only country in the world where Germans imposed a death penalty for helping Jews. Ambassador Reiter speaking for Polish Radio Three said that using the words "Polish concentration camps" is a sign of "manipulation, stupidity and ignorance."

Kwasniewski, Putin agree to meet at Polish-Russian economic forum

Cracow, Jan. 27: President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin decided  on the organization of a Polish-Russian economic forum which the two would attend. The forum is to be held in the first half of the year. "We agreed that there will be a meeting during the first half of the year, most likely in St. Petersburg," said Kwasniewski and added that both presidents want to attend it. "...this means that we will meet and we will talk," said the Polish president. Kwasniewski said he talked with Putin while the two presidents travelled from Cracow to Auschwitz to attend ceremonies marking the liberation of the camp. President Kwasniewski said his talks with Putin were dominated by economic issues, including the deliveries of Russian oil and by political issues. Kwasniewski said that Russia is interested in the delivery of oil to Poland and does not treat this as a political issue, but as a sign of normal economic cooperation. "Yukos deposits have been taken over by new companies, they too are ready to deliver (oil) to Poland. Russia is absolutely for the continuation of all this and for solving (problems) in the best spirit of Polish-Russian cooperation," Kwasniewski stressed. The two presidents met once again on late Thursday evening in Balice, outside Cracow. Before going into the meeting President Putin stressed: "We do not plan to put any limits on the deliveries of oil now or in the future." "We want to hold an economic forum, we hope for political contacts, we want our governments and our ministers to cooperate as best as it is possible..." said Kwasniewski adding that he also discussed with Putin the question of Polish food exports to Russia. According to Kwasniewski the two presidents also discussed the question of combatting terrorism and relations between the European Union and Russia.

Belka meets Cheney

Cracow, Jan.27: Prime Minister Marek Belka met U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney and a group of U.S. congressmen who attended the Auschwitz liberation ceremonies. When discusing international situation the politicians reviewed prospects of developments in Ukraine and agreed for the need of all-round support for Ukraine undergoing political and economic transformations. They also covered Polish-U.S. military cooperation and its importance for the modernisation of Polish armed forces. Belka once again pointed to Polish expectations concerning visa facilitations for Poles travelling to the USA.

Poland's military presence in Iraq

Bratislava, Jan. 28: The outcome of Iraqi elections will affect Poland's further military activity in that country, Poland's defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said in Bratislava. Polish and Slovak troops will support the election logistically but they will not be present in polling stations. Iraqi forces will be responsible for keeping order, he added. "In February, after the elections, together with representatives of 16 states in our division, we will asses the military situation. We already know that there will be fewer Polish soldiers in Iraq with more prepared for immediate transfer from Poland to Iraq," Szmajdzinski said. Szmajdzinski and his Slovak counterpart Yuray Lishka discussed military cooperation within the Visegrad Group, cooperation of Poland's and Slovakia's arms producting industries, and further operation of the multi-national division in Iraq.

Hausner for faster wage growth in 2005

Warsaw, Jan. 28: Deputy Prime Minister Jerzy Hausner supports the idea of faster wage growth in 2005 than that foreseen in the budget bill. "Together with the finance minister we are thinking about wage levels in 2005. If the finance ministry thinks that wages could grow faster, then I think this is a rational judgement and a rational signal, Hausner told. Finance minister Miroslaw Gronicki said earlier that the average annual wage growth level in 2005 might be raised from the projected 4.5 percent.

Oleksy: SLD for autumn general elections

Warsaw, Jan. 27: Most of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) will be for autumn general elections, SLD leader Jozef Oleksy said, commenting a Friday-scheduled debate on the election date between the party leadership and prime minister Marek Belka. Oleksy said final decisions on the ballot deadline would fall at a January 31 sitting of the SLD National Council. According to Oleksy a "vast majority" of SLD was for an autumn date. This, Oleksy added, was "surprising" as there had be no signs of such support during earlier debates on the matter. Asked if Belka would manage to convince SLD to an election in June, Oleksy said that Belka could meet up with "the same opposition I encountered when I tried", but admitted that the prime minister "knew how to be convincing". Oleksy confirmed SLD's plans to unite the Polish left for the elections, stressing that he especially hoped SLD renegate Social- democracy for Poland (SdPl) would decide to join a united leftwing bloc. We want to build a broad leftwing election front open for all, including the Freedom Union (UW), Oleksy stressed. Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski in a recent interview for PAP said he saw little chance for a leftwing coalition as divisions between individual parties were too deep.

posted by: Oborski at 19:44 | link | comments |