Siphokazi Magadla, SACSIS
The 27th of January 2015
marked the 70th anniversary of the ‘liberation’ of Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is
the concentration camp in Poland where an estimated 1.1 million people were
killed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany during World War II. The victims of
Auschwitz-Birkenau were killed in masses in gas chambers while some were beaten
to death and others died of starvation, endured forced labour and suffered from
infectious diseases. Speaking in front of the International Auschwitz Committee
in Berlin, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel reminded the world that “crimes
against humanity are not time-barred” and challenged that “we will always have
the responsibility of ensuring that the knowledge about these atrocities is
passed on, and of keeping the memories alive.”
