Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for Economic Diplomacy and Openness, Mr. Tasos Chatzivasileiou traveled to Poland on Monday, January 27 2025 to attend, as a representative of the Greek Government, the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
The commemoration, which took place on Monday afternoon in front of the camp’s gate, was attended by 53 state delegations and officials from the Council of Europe, the European Union, the United Nations, UNESCO and NATO. The last survivors of the Nazi atrocities were also present and spoke about the Holocaust.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs made the following statement: “It is with awe and respect that I find myself in Auschwitz, Poland, representing the Greek Government at the 80th Commemoration of 27 January 1945, the day when Soviet troops entered the Nazi Inferno and liberated the last prisoners. 6.000.000 Jews were brutally murdered in the concentration camps. Among them, 67.000 Greek Jews, our compatriots. This year, we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau with few survivors present. And as the years go by, the survivors will unfortunately become fewer and fewer. It is therefore our duty to keep historical memory alive and teach future generations that racism, intolerance and Antisemitism have no place in modern societies. After all, historical memory is the best defense against violence. We remember and will keep remembering what happened here, in the Auschwitz Inferno. Never again!”
January 28, 2025