**World Leaders Gather to Honor Auschwitz Liberation Amidst Resurgent Nationalism**

A ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation raises concerns about the re-emergence of anti-Semitism.

 

More than 50 world leaders, including King Charles III, are set to gather in Auschwitz, Poland on Monday for a significant commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by the Red Army. This event holds particular weight as it coincides with an alarming rise in nationalist sentiments across Europe and beyond. The Auschwitz concentration camp, emblematic of the horrors of the Holocaust where over 1.1 million individuals, predominantly Jews, lost their lives, will host a somber ceremony near its gas chambers and crematoriums.

The event will mark a poignant moment as a dwindling number of survivors, less than 50 this year, participate in laying wreaths at the Wall of Death. This wall, scarred by history and pockmarked with bullet holes from deadly executions by SS guards, stands as a harrowing reminder of the atrocities committed there. Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, emphasized the urgency of this anniversary, stating, “We are witnessing the most crucial commemoration with fewer survivors available to bear witness and the unsettling rise of anti-Semitism globally,” highlighting that such sentiments had merely lain dormant rather than being eradicated.

Attendance among survivors has sharply declined, with less than half of those attending previous commemorations, underscoring the pressing reality that in just a few years, many more will be lost to time. “In five years, there will be very few left,” Lauder observed, reflecting the urgency and seriousness with which we must regard the lessons history has taught us and the responsibilities that lie ahead.