Auschwitz Ceremony
Marks Liberation

Oswiecim, Poland (JTA) — Sev-
eral hundred Auschwitz sur-
vivors and others held a Jewish
memorial ceremony here to mark
the 50th anniversary of the lib-
eration of the death camp.
Jewish groups organized the
ceremony outside the framework
of official ceremonies planned by
the Polish government. Members

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A camp survivor weeps during ceremonies at Auschwitz.

of the Jewish groups said the of-
ficial program did not reflect the
unique dimension of Jewish suf-
fering at Auschwitz.
About 300 Jews, many of them
elderly, marched from the en-
trance of the Auschwitz-Birke-
nau camp, along the rail track
that brought Jews here from
across Europe, to the ruins of the
camp crematoria.
Here they prayed and wept,
chanting the El Male Rachamim,
Yizkor and Kaddish prayers for
the dead.
In English, Hebrew, Yiddish
and Polish, speakers including

They chanted the El
Male Rachamim,
Yizkor and Kaddish.

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more children and more children
— frightened, quiet, so quiet and
so beautiful.
"If we could simply look at one,
our heart would break. Did it not
break the heart of the murder-
ers? God, merciful God, do not
have mercy on those who had no
mercy on Jewish children," Mr.
Wiesel said.

survivors, Israeli representatives
and other Jewish leaders com-
memorated the dead and de-
clared that the Holocaust must
not be forgotten.
"We know that God is merci-
ful, but please, God, do not have
mercy on those who created this
place," said Elie Wiesel,
Auschwitz survivor and Nobel
Peace Prize winner.
"Those who have been here,"
he said, "remember the noctur-
nal processions of children and

.

AP/JOCKEL FINCK

Mr. Wiesel is also head of the
official U.S. delegation to the com-
memoration.
Jean Kahn, president of the
European Jewish Congress,
warned in his speech against the
distortion of memory about the
Holocaust.
He was highly critical of the
Polish organization of the official
ceremonies, which he accused of
wanting to stage "a nationalist
celebration by concealing the
Jewish dimension of the Shoah."
One of the few non-Jewish
representatives attending the
Jewish ceremony today was Ro-
man Herzog, president of Ger-
many.
Most of the participants ap-
peared to be Polish Jews, but
Jewish representatives also came
from Hungary, Germany, the
Czech Republic, Russia and else-
where.
Other speakers included She-
vach Weiss, speaker of the Knes-
set; Kalman Sultanik, president
of the Federation of Polish
Jews and vice president of the
World Jewish Congress; and
Menashe Lorenzy, chairman
of the Auschwitz Twins Associa-
tion.
A representative of the Gyp-
sies also spoke.
Official ceremonies included
ceremonial meetings and a meet-
ing of Nobel peace prize winners
to draw up an appeal against in-
tolerance.