Officials have commemorated the 85th anniversary of the first deportation of Polish prisoners to the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp with a range of ceremonies honouring the victims.
The observances in southern Poland included a religious service at the St. Maximilian Centre in the village of Harmęże, near the former Auschwitz camp.
June 14, 1940, when the first transport of 728 Poles arrived from a prison in the city of Tarnów, is widely considered the date Auschwitz began operating.
Among those attending were several Auschwitz survivors, including Janusz Rudnicki, who was deported to the camp during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
“This is my first time attending such a ceremony,” he told reporters. “I meet with young people from time to time to speak about Auschwitz, but what I share is just a drop in the ocean of what could be conveyed.”
Auschwitz Museum Director Piotr Cywiński called the memory preserved by survivors “perhaps the greatest work of their lives” and a gift to new generations.
He added: “Every year on June 14, I think of those Polish survivors who have helped create this place of remembrance. It is thanks to them that we can reflect more wisely and maturely on our choices today.”
On June 14, 1940, Nazi Germany sent the first group of Polish prisoners—including soldiers, resistance members and youth activists—to Auschwitz. Of the 728 deported, only 239 are known to have survived the war.
