BY C STONE | STONE NEWS NETWORK
80 year ago today, the liberation of the Nazi Germany death camp Auschwitz happened. From the BBC:
- An early service was held this morning in Auschwitz, during which survivors laid wreaths and Polish President Adrezej Duda spoke of being the “guardians of the memory" of the Holocaust
- World leaders and royalty later joined survivors at Auschwitz to mark the anniversary in a memorial ceremony.Survivors recalled harrowing tales of being separated from family and watching the people around the disappear and waste away
- One of the youngest survivors, Tova Friedman, recalled being six-years-old and wondering "am I the only Jewish child left in the world?"
- Marian Turski, who was a teenager when he was freed from Auschwitz, warned of a "huge rise in antisemitism" across the world
- After attending that ceremony, King Charles III toured the memorial centre at Auschwitz and laid a wreath at the “Death Wall” there
- Meanwhile, the Prince and Princess of Wales were among the guests at the UK memorial service in London
- They met with survivors, and Prince William recounted the story of his great-grandmother Princess Alice, who hid a Jewish widow and her children during the Nazi occupation of Greece
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer also spoke at the London event and announced a new Holocaust memorial and learning centre
She was later liberated from the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945 and re-settled in the UK after being reunited with her brother.
Her story of survival is one she shares with young people through events organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust's outreach programme.
At a recent event, Tribich met with teenage students at a school in London and her personal account - such as when her mother and younger sister were taken away and shot in a forest - had a profound impact on the youngsters.
"It's the little things like that that aren't spoken about at school that really makes you realise the magnitude of things like the Holocaust and what they mean to people who have to experience it," says student Luke.
Fellow student Milad agrees: "Hearing from someone who was actually experiencing that, I feel like now I understand it better. I'll believe more of what I'm hearing and it's better to hear from a witness than just reading off a sheet of information".
For Julia, the lesson from Tribich's story is simple: "There's always going to be a struggle in standing up for what's right but if it's the right thing to do, then you should definitely go for it."
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