UN chief pays tribute to Holocaust victims

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon walks along the rail tracks at Auschwitz, 18 November 2013. Photo: UN HANDOUT/EPA/EVAN SCHNEIDER

Ban is the first UN top diplomat to visit the site – where an estimated 1.5 million died at the hands of the Nazi occupiers in World War II – since Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1995.

“The world must never forget, deny or downplay the Holocaust. We must remain ever on our guard,” Ban said during his visit.

“We will stand in eternal solidarity with the survivors and safeguard their testimony so their legacy will never die,” he added.

One of the last remaining survivors of Auschwitz, Marian Turski, said that the visit is “extraordinary”.

“It means that the Shoah – the Holocaust – is not only the Jewish issue, that Auschwitz is not only the Polish, the Jewish, the Gypsy, the Roma Sinti issue, it is a European issue, an issue for mankind and entire humanity,” Turski said at the occasion.

During his visit, Ban Ki Moon placed a wreath in front of the Wall of Death and also visited the synagogue in Oswiecim.

The visit to Auschwitz comes as the UN Secretary General is currently in Poland for the ongoing COP19 Climate Summit in Warsaw. (jb)

An audio report on UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon’s visit can be found here.

Ban Ki Moon with Holocaust survivor Marian Turski during the UN Secretary General's visit to Auschwitz, 18 November 2013. Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk