DW dug through the archives to find our report on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz back in 1995. Find out what Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and Poland's then-president, Lech Walesa, said at the commemoration ceremony.
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00:00Welcome to the Journal from Deutsche Welle TV. I'm Christiane Feist. To this day, even
00:1550 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, anguish and sorrow prevail. To
00:21defy helplessness, to confront the past in order to learn for the future, that was what
00:27German President Roman Herzog and others hoped to do on Friday, the second day of the commemorative
00:32ceremonies in Auschwitz. In the Book of Remembrance, Herzog wrote, here the dead open the eyes
00:38of the living. In front of the gate with the cynical inscription, work will set you free,
00:44Nobel laureates and politicians from 30 countries commemorated the victims. Then they walked
00:51to the so-called wall of death and laid down a wreath where the SS executed thousands.
01:01We've just taken a symbolic walk along the path that reflects the suffering of many peoples,
01:07especially the Jewish people. The speech published prior to the ceremony had not contained this
01:15sentence. Muenzer must have added it at the last minute after coming under heavy criticism
01:20on Thursday. On the first day of the commemorative ceremony, he made no reference to Jewish suffering
01:26or the Holocaust. Survivors of the Holocaust had already gathered before the official ceremony
01:33in the former death camp Birkenau began. Some wore striped scarves reminiscent of prisoners'
01:40clothing. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Eli Wiesel expressed what was on everyone's mind. I speak
01:48to you as a man who 50 years and 7 days ago did not have a name, did not have any hope,
01:57did not have a future and existed only through a number, number A-70-7-13. Around 5000 people
02:12listened as he hinted at the ongoing dispute with Muenzer. Not all the victims were Jews,
02:18but all the Jews were victims, he said. More than a million people were systematically killed here.
02:25At the commemorative ceremony, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim leaders
02:30prayed for them. An appeal to the world by the Nobel Peace Prize laureates followed. It was
02:36read by Václav Bartoszewski, who also suffered in Auschwitz. The legacy of the victims compels
02:43us to work to build a world free of xenophobia and hatred. The other appeals on this day also
02:50made clear that the Auschwitz experience must be a warning to us all, especially in view of
02:55resurging nationalist sentiment in many countries around the world.