To date, Russia has always participated in the ceremonies held annually on January 27, with the Russian representative delivering a speech at the main ceremony.
Russian representatives were not invited to the events of the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau by Red Armydue to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the management of the museum announced today.
“In view of the attack on a free and independent Ukraine, representatives of the Russian Federation have not been invited to this year’s commemoration of the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz” due to take place this Friday, Piotr Savitsky, a spokesman for the museum, told AFP.
To date, Russia has always participated in the ceremonies held annually on January 27, with the Russian representative delivering a speech at the main ceremony.
According to the director of the museum, Piotr Chyvinski, it was obvious that he could not sign a letter of invitation to the Russian ambassador in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
“I hope that will change in the future, but we have a long way to go. (…) Russia will need an extremely long time and a very deep introspection after this conflict to return to the living rooms of the civilized world,” he said, according to the PAP agency.
On the day Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the museum called the Russian attack an “act of barbarism.” “This act of barbarity will be judged by History and its perpetrators – hopefully – by the International Criminal Court,” the museum said on Twitter at the time.
Built in Nazi-occupied Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau is the symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million European Jews, one million of whom died in the camp between 1940 and 1945, along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.
This camp, where approximately 80,000 non-Jewish Poles, 25,000 Roma and 20,000 Soviet soldiers also died, was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945.
RES-EMP
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
