‘A wall of silence led to Auschwitz:’ This must never happen again

World leaders and royals, including King Charles and Australia’s Danish Queen Mary wiped tears as elderly survivors at the 80th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau told of their excruciating experiences and warned against the rising global tide of anti-Semitism.

King Charles III and King Frederik X of Denmark and Queen Mary of Denmark wait to place a lit candle as tribute is paid to the Holocaust victims during the ceremony for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp.

World leaders and royals, including King Charles and Australia’s Danish Queen Mary wiped tears as elderly survivors at the 80th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau told of their excruciating war time experiences avoiding the Nazi gas chambers and crematoriums and warned the world that rampant anti-Semitism was so shocking it leaves Israel fighting for its very existence and way of life.

Australia’s delegation, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, sitting near to royals such as King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands, French president Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, were also given a political dressing down by the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder.

Mr Lauder, a billionaire donor to US President Donald Trump and an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said what happened in Israel on October 7, 2023, and at Auschwitz had a common thread: “the age old hatred of Jews’’ and noted historic parallels of what happened in 1939 to the present time.

He said: “Even in Australia Jews are singled out and threatened, today Jewish professors are fired, Jewish children are told not to have outward signs of being Jewish, today there are mass demonstrations against Jews, we see vile comments all over social media.”

He added that the extermination of the Jews in World War II was a step-by-step process “aided by those who hated Jews, but advanced by the indifference of people who thought they were not affected by anti-Semitism because they were not Jewish.’’ Mr Lauder proclaimed: “a wall of silence led to Auschwitz”.

“Most people think the opposite of love is hate, but its not, the opposite is indifference … today we must take a pledge not be silent when comes to anti-Semitism,’’ he said.

Guests, which included 56 Holocaust survivors were reminded that nearby was the raised platform where more than a millions Jews stepped off the transport wagons and sent straight to the gas chamber, while another five million were murdered in other Nazi extermination camps.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong places a candle in front of the train car, the symbol of the event, to pay tribute to the victims during commemorations on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Senator Wong said “attending this commemoration was a deeply moving experience’’.

“It was an opportunity to stand together with representatives from around the world and say never again. The words of the Holocaust survivors will stay with me, always,’’ she said.

“They spoke about where anti-Semitism, hatred and intolerance lead. They spoke about being stripped of their humanity. Of feeling powerless and abandoned. And of the desperate cries that haunt their souls. The survivors warned against allowing the memory of the millions of Jewish people murdered to fade. I hope their message is heard around the world.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron.

Three survivors of the Auschwitz horrors gave incredibly powerful personal testimonies, the most emotional delivered by Tova Friedman who received a standing ovation.

Ms Friedman was just five and a half years when she stepped on that platform at Birkenau terrified at the bulging eyes and bare teeth of growling German shepherd dogs, the same height as herself.

'From my town, four children survived'

Holocaust survivor Tova Friedman speaks at a ceremony to commemorate 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

Latest: https://t.co/iItlhKSzcqpic.twitter.com/KMEHgMitzx

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 27, 2025

She had earlier seen all of her young Jewish friends rounded up from her Warsaw hiding place and thought “am I the only Jewish child left in the world?’’ She said she understood upon arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau what the smoke meant because her mother had hidden nothing from her.

“I was being beaten mercilessly by a guard for fidgeting unable to stand still for hours at roll call. I looked in my mothers eyes standing silently pleading with me don’t cry, hold on. I recall thinking I will never let them know how much they are hurting me. At five and a half, I had the rebellion in me,” she said.

Ms Friedman says she is still haunted by an horrific memory of watching other girls aged six and seven crying, shivering and walking barefoot in the snow towards the gas chambers.

“They too became ashes,” she said. “Is my barrack next I wondered. I thought we all have to die, it was normal, if you were Jewish, a child, you have to die.

“ I wasn’t sure what Jewish was, I never saw any celebrations. But death, child, Jewish seemed a normal thought.’’

An elderly woman lays a candle during the commemorations on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

She too told the world leaders that the anti-Semitism was “shocking to all of us, shocking to our children and grandchildren” adding that “Israel is fighting for its very existence and way of life”. She urged the world leaders to “reawaken a collective consciousness to violent, hatred and malignancy before terrible negative forces will destroy us all’’ noting how Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.

This overview shows the main gate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, the so-called Death Gate, during the commemorations on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The guests were seated under a huge tent which enveloped the main Birkenau building, the railway tracks leading to it and the German transport wagon, donated by Australian businessman Frank Lowy to remember his father Hugo Lowy, who was beaten to death on the very same spot by an SS guard for not relinquishing his prayer shawl and book.

Sir Frank, 94, said it was important to remember there was a man like Hugo Lowy who perished because he didn’t agree to give up his religious items.

“For that he sacrificed his life,’’ he said. “Here I feel connected to him and that gives me strength. I am proud of how brave my father was and how much his religion and prayer shawl and books meant more to him than life itself.’’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Queen Mary of Denmark react as Janina Iwanska, a concentration camp survivor, delivers a speech during the commemorations.

Ninety-eight-year-old historian and survivor Marian Turski had welcomed the guests and set the tone of the event, which drew direct comparisons from the war to present time telling them: “Let us not fear demonstrating the same courage today when Hamas attempts at denial of the massacre of the 7th of October, let us not oppose the conspiracy theories saying all evil of this world results from a plot started by some indefinite social groups and Jews are often mentioned as one of such, let us not fear discussing the problems that torment the so-called last generation.”

The ceremony ended with the blowing of the shofar, or ram’s horn signifying that the horrors here at the Death Gate had to be remembered as a powerful wake up call.

After the Kaddish, the Jewish mourner’s prayer, guests were invited to light candles at the front of the cattle wagon in memory of the Holocaust victims.

King Charles had earlier attended the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow before arriving at Auschwitz saying it was a moment to recall “the depths to which humanity can sink when evil is allowed to flourish, ignored for too long by the world.’’ He said the survivors collectively taught the world to cherish freedom, the challenge prejudice and to never be a bystander in the face of violence and hate.