Auschwitz survivors mark virtual 76th anniversary

The 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp was on Wednesday commemorated online - a measure taken because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the first time that survivors were not be able to gather in person at the site of their suffering.

Most International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations were being held online this year due to the virus, including the annual ceremony at the site of the former Auschwitz death camp, where Nazi German forces killed 1.1 million people in occupied Poland.

The memorial site is closed to visitors because of the pandemic.

Among those commemorating from home was Polish-born Auschwitz survivor Tova Friedman, who arrived at the camp when she was 5 years old and was 6 when she found herself among thousands of survivors liberated by Soviet troops on 27 January 2020.

Friedman, who is now 82, attended last year's event at Auschwitz and had hoped to take her her eight grandchildren there this year to help them better understand her experiences.

But the pandemic prevented that.

From her home in Highland Park, New Jersey, she recorded a message of warning about the rise of hatred.

In her recorded message, Friedman compared the "virus of hatred" in the world to COVID-19.

Politicians and citizens alike were joining a World Jewish Congress campaign which involved people posting photos of themselves and #WeRemember.

Those will be shown later Wednesday on a screen at Auschwitz next to the gate and a cattle car, the way victims were transported there.

The online nature of this year's commemorations is a sharp contrast to events marking the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation last year, when some 200 survivors and dozens of European leaders and royalty gathered at the site of the former camp.

It was one of the last large international gatherings before the pandemic forced the cancellation of most large gatherings.

More than 1.1 million people were murdered by the German Nazis and their henchmen at Auschwitz, the most notorious in a network of killing sites set up across occupied Europe.

The vast majority of those killed at Auschwitz were Jews, but others, including Poles, Roma, homosexuals and Soviet prisoners of war, were also murdered.

In all, about 6 million European Jews and millions of other people were killed by the Germans and their collaborators.

In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

(Image Credit: AP)