Johannesburg

Sunday

More sun than clouds. Pleasantly warm.

15°C
28°C

7 day forecasts

'Evil is real'

2005-01-27 16:16

Auschwitz - World leaders on Thursday issued emotional pleas for the horrors of the Holocaust never to be forgotten, as they prepared to mark the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp 60 years ago.

Under a blanket of snow, a train pulling along the tracks once used to herd more than a million people to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in southern Poland was to mark the start of the main ceremony with a haunting whistle.

About 10 000 people, including about 1 000 survivors, were expected to pay tribute to about 1.1 million people who died at Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945.

Most of them were Jews exterminated in the gas chambers of the most grimly efficient of the Nazi death camps. They were among the six million people who perished during the Nazi regime's chilling "Final Solution".

The day of solemn events and remembrances began with an international forum gathering young people, survivors and politicians, and with a plea from Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski to "ensure that future generations never forget".

World has not learnt lesson

Addressed the gathering of 400 people, he lamented that "the world has not always heeded the sad lesson of Nazi crimes."

United States vice-president Dick Cheney also urged future generations to take heed of the message of evil embodied in Auschwitz and the Nazi regime.

"The story of the camp reminds us that evil is real. It must be called by its name and must be confronted," said Cheney.

Cheney was to be among 44 world leaders at the main commemoration starting at 14:30, also being attended by former Soviet Red Army soldiers who liberated the camp on January 27 1945.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the world still had reason to be ashamed today noting that even in Russia, "which has done the most to defeat fascim, to liberate Jews, we see frequent signs of this disease (anti-Semitism) and we are embarrassed of this".

The open-air ceremony, also being attended by members of European royalty, was to be held at a memorial erected at the camp's Birkenau complex, between the ruins of two of gas chambers that were capable of claiming thousands of lives every day.

Historians have been unable to say precisely how many people died here, and the actual death toll is believed to be as high as two million.

At the morning forum, Kwasniewski also decorated several former Red Army soldiers who liberated the camp during one of eastern Europe's severest winters when temperatures fell as low as minus 30°C.

Meanwhile Britain's chief rabbi Dr Jonathan Sacks made a plea to remember the Holocaust and its lessons without hate, saying hatred was just destructive.

"The lessons of the Holocaust are simple to understand however hard they are to live. Never blame others for your troubles. A society is as large as the space it makes for the stranger. Cherish life. Fight for the rights of others," he wrote in The Daily Telegraph.

- AFP

inside news24

Weather
Traffic
Lottery
Cpt: 17-23°C Mostly sunny. Mild. Pta: 18-30°C Tstorms early. Morning clouds. Pleasantly warm.
Jhb: 15-28°C More sun than clouds. Pleasantly warm. Bloem: 16-31°C Sprinkles. Morning clouds. Pleasantly warm.
Dbn: 18-25°C Morning clouds. Mild. PE: 16-25°C Morning clouds. Mild.
7 day forecasts...

Jobs - Find your dream job

SENIOR DEVELOPER: JAVA

Western Cape - Cape Town
Quiglies Solutions

Test automation engineer

Western Cape - Cape Town
Quiglies Solutions

Developer

Western Cape - Cape Town
Quiglies Solutions

Cars - Search 1000's of new and used cars

AUDI

2009 Audi A3 2.0 T Sportback Manual - 24000kms
Lava Grey & Tan leather interior
R 275 000

MERCEDES-BENZ

C230K COUPE
2002
R 135,995.00

OPEL

Meriva 1.6 Club MPV
2004
R 62,990.00

CHEVROLET

Spark 0.8 5-dr
2009
R 76,899.00

Property - Find a new home

WATERVAL EAST

Single Residential R2,400,000

KWAAIWATER

Single Residential R2,500,000

WELBEDACHT

Single Residential R2,600,000

Travel - Look, Book, Go!

Luxury bush escape

Book a five-star stay at Pumba Game Lodge or Richard Branson's Ulusaba Safari Lodge and save R2 000. More details!

Free Games - TOO MUCH NEWS? TAKE A BREAK!

Kalahari.net - shop online today

Great Festive Savings on Books

Up to 30% Off ALL Books. 2.3 million titles on SALE.

Sleek New iPod Range. Order Your's Now!

iPod nano 16GB - Black, Was R2,499.00 Now R2,299.00! Save R200!

Up to 40% off Fabulous Festive Flicks

46 000 DVDs and Blu-Ray on sale now! Pre-order Up and District 9!

Up to 20% off ALL Music

100s of festive new releases now in stock! Now, Bump 25, Bon Jovi & more!

1000s of Festive Toys on Sale

Lots of Toys, free gift wrap, lowest prices on Lego Mindstorm, Ben 10, Hannah Montana & more!

Hot Deal of the Day!

Up to 30% off Books

Ends midnight, 30 November

2.3 million titles on sale! New Stieg Larsson, Jeremy Clarkson, Jamie Oliver & more!

Up to 40% Off Sale on All Books, Toys, CDs, DVDs & Games!