Archive Events 2022

February 2022

18.02.2022

Homage to Władysław Bartoszewski by Marian Turski

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski would have turned 100 on February 19. In his tribute to Władysław Bartoszewski, Marian Turski pays tribute to the Auschwitz survivor and great Polish statesman.

May 2022

23.05.2022

Plea in the criminal proceedings against concentration camp guard Josef Schütz, who is charged with aiding and abetting the murder of 3518 prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Today, Monday, May 23, 2022, attorney Thomas Walther pleads before the Regional Court of Neuruppin, sitting in Brandenburg, in the trial of concentration camp guard Josef Schütz, who is charged with aiding and abetting the murder of 3518 prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

June 2022

16.06.2022

Exhibition "Institute to remember" at Kunsthaus Göttingen June 18 – September 25, 2022

IAC Vice President Christoph Heubner and exhibition organizer and documentarian Michèle Déodat present their exhibition "Institute to remember" at the Kunsthaus Göttingen.

17.06.2022

July 2, 2022 Literaturhaus Göttingen: “Christoph Heubner and the Trio to Remember – Music and lyrics against forgetting”

Artist Special at Literaturhaus Göttingen: “IAC vice president Christoph Heubner and the Trio to Remember – Music and lyrics against forgetting”.

December 2022

13.12.2022

Holocaust Survivors Honored in Worldwide Chanukah Celebration

Please join us Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 1:30 PM ET for the online event

Archive Announcements 2022

January 2022

29.01.2022

The International Auschwitz Committee is wholeheartedly supporting the proposal to award MEMORIAL the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

Representatives from almost every party in the Estonian parliament have issued a joint press statement nominating the Russian human rights organization MEMORIAL for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

26.01.2022

h Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz: International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Speaking in Berlin on the occasion of tomorrow’s 77th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz and the International Day in Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

23.01.2022

Raphael Esrail, Auschwitz survivor, French Vice President of the IAC and President of the Union dés déportés d’Auschwitz in Paris, has died.

Auschwitz survivors around the globe are deeply saddened by the passing of Raphael Esrail at the age of 96 in Lannion (Côtes d’Armor) France. At the same time they are profoundly grateful to their friend, fellow sufferer and long-time companion.

06.01.2022

Auschwitz survivor Trude Simonsohn dies at 100 years of age

It is with deepest gratitude and sadness that Auschwitz survivors around the world are bidding farewell to their friend and fellow sufferer Trude Simonsohn who has passed away at the age of 100 years. In a tribute to her, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz...

02.01.2022

Auschwitz survivor Gertrude Pressburger has died at the age of 94

In a tribute to the Auschwitz survivor Gertrude Pressburger, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said in Berlin:

February 2022

27.02.2022

Putin's cynical and treacherous lie to justify his invasion of Ukraine.

Time and again the Russian president Vladimir Putin uses the terms “genocide” and “denazification” in his arguments for the invasion of Ukraine. In this context Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee stated in Berlin:

19.02.2022

Gabriel Bach, deputy state prosecutor in the Eichmann Trial, dies aged 94.

Speaking in Berlin on the death of Gabriel Bach, deputy state prosecutor in the Eichmann Trial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

09.02.2022

Gerhard Richter turns 90

On the occasion of Gerhard Richter’s 90th birthday Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee congratulated the artist as follows:

05.02.2022

Far-right AfD politician Jens Meier wants to return to office as judge

Commenting in Berlin on the imminent return of AfD politician Jens Maier to the office of judge in the Free State of Saxony, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

March 2022

24.03.2022

Marie Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin awards honorary doctorate to IAC President Marian Turski.

The Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Marian Turski, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Senate of the Polish Marie Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin.

22.03.2022

Ukrainian Holocaust survivor Boris Romantschenko (96) killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv

Ukrainian Holocaust survivor Boris Romantschenko aged 96 was killed when Russian shells hit his flat in an attack on his home town of Kharkiv on Friday. During a stay at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

14.03.2022

Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum passes at the age of 101.

On Monday night the Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum died in Potsdam at the age of 101. Leon Schwarzbaum was born as the son of a Polish-Jewish family in Hamburg in 1921, but he grew up in the Polish town of Bedzin in Upper Silesia. In 1943, after the dissolution of the ghetto there, the family,...

09.03.2022

Holocaust survivor Inge Deutschkron has died aged 99 years.

Holocaust survivors across the world are bidding farewell to their companion and fellow sufferer Inge Detschkron. They are eternally grateful to her, and they are expressing their heartfelt affection and respect at her passing. During a stay at Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice...

09.03.2022

Administrative Court in Cologne: AfD may and should be under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

During a visit at the Auschwitz Memorial Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented as follows on the Cologne Administrative Court‘s decision for surveillance of the AfD:

08.03.2022

Statement of the International Committee Buchenwald, Dora and Kommandos ICBD concerning the invasion of Ukraine.

Dear Madam, Dear Sir, We, representatives of the International Committee Buchenwald, Dora and Kommandos ICBD, hereby inform you of our statement concerning the invasion of Ukraine. We thank you for the attention you will give to this statement and we invite you to give it the widest possible...

02.03.2022

Damage inflicted on the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial

In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, made a statement concerning the damage inflicted on the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial during the bombardment of Kyiv’s neighbouring television tower. He said:

April 2022

28.04.2022

Yom hashoah: Worldwide remembrance of the martyrs and heroes of the Holocaust

Speaking in Berlin on the occasion of today’s Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom Hashoah, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

27.04.2022

Chicago honours Gertrud Kolmar, the German-Jewish poet who was murdered in Auschwitz

It’s a lovely story: For many years, tucked away in the northwest of Chicago, there has been a rather inconspicuous park called Kolmar Park. It is named after the city of Colmar in Alsace, France, near the border with Germany.

25.04.2022

The President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Marian Turski, congratulates President Emmanuel Macron on the re-election

May 2022

09.05.2022

8 and 9 May: Days of remembrance marking the end of World War II

On this 9 May 2022, Auschwitz survivors across the globe are commemorating all of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian soldiers of the Red Army who liberated them from Auschwitz and led them back into life.

03.05.2022

Prof. Felix Kolmer, Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee turns 100

Today, it is the 100th birthday of the Czech Jewish survivor of Auschwitz and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Prof. Felix Kolmer, who is marking his 100th anniversary in the Jewish retirement home Hagibor in Prague.

June 2022

28.06.2022

Accessory to murder of thousands. SS guard from Sachsenhausen sentenced to five years in jail.

“The level of the sentence is not the decisive factor for the descendants. The fact that a judgement has been passed at all is the most important factor.” These were the words of Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee when commenting on the sentencing...

21.06.2022

The most recent anti-Semitic manifestations at documenta fifteen

During a stay at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the latest developments in the anti-Semitism debate surrounding documenta 15:

15.06.2022

Judgement of the Federal Court on the depiction of the so-called Jews’ sow in Wittenberg

During a stay at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on today’s Federal Court judgement concerning the anti-Jewish relief known as the "Wittenberger Judensau":

15.06.2022

Judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court on the statement by Federal Chancellor Merkel on the election of the Minister-President in the Free State of Thuringia in 2020

Commenting on today’s judgement by the Federal Constitutional Court on the statement by former Federal Chancellor Merkel on the election of the Minister-President in Thuringia with votes from the CDU, the FDP and the AfD, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz...

11.06.2022

The quiet return of the former MP, Mario Lehmann, to the police force of Saxony-Anhalt

Commenting in Berlin on the return of the former AfD politician and regional state MP to the police service in Saxony-Anhalt, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

01.06.2022

AfD politician Mario Lehmann returns to police force

Repeated demands are being made to remove right-wing extremist officers from the police force. In Saxony-Anhalt a self-confirmed far-right extremist and despiser of the republic has returned to the police service. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee...

July 2022

29.07.2022

Position of the International Auschwitz Committee on the current situation of documenta fifteen

Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the current situation at documenta fifteen, and specifically criticized the unwillingness of the exhibition organizers to take a stand on anti-Semitic manifestations within the exhibition:

27.07.2022

New appointment of the advisory body International Auschwitz Council by the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on 26 July 2022

Since the year 2000 the appointment of the International Auschwitz Council has been the responsibility of the Polish prime minister. The council’s 25 members are appointed by the prime minister as experts on the process of coming to terms with the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The council...

26.07.2022

On the racist statements by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Băile Tușnad, Romania

Commenting on the recent statements by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the Fidesz summer academy in Băile Tușnad, Romania, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

21.07.2022

Attack on Buchenwald Memorial

During a visit to France, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, made a statement on the targeted attack on the Buchenwald concentration camp Memorial. The attack included the vandalizing of trees dedicated to children murdered in the camp:

16.07.2022

80th anniversary of the mass roundup in occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942

On this day, Auschwitz survivors around the world are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the massive, brutal roundups in occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942, in which Germans and French police arrested more than 13,000 Jews and incarcerated them for days in deplorable conditions in the...

09.07.2022

Taking the bull by the horns: Discussion about documenta’s unprecedented blunder

Trainees stage performance against anti-Semitism at the Kunsthaus Göttingen.

August 2022

22.08.2022

Remembering the pogroms in Lichtenhagen in August 1992

While in Werdau/Zwickau, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the pogroms in Lichtenhagen in August 1992 and on this year’s remembrance ceremony as follows:

19.08.2022

Ride 4 Solidatity motorbike tour to honour the liberators of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz

In August 2022 the Ride 4 Solidarity motorcycle tour organized by the Motorcycle Club, and supported by the International Auschwitz Committee, took place after having been postponed in 2020. The Ride 4 Solidarity was dedicated to the memory and in honour of the liberators of Auschwitz concentration...

18.08.2022

Anne Frank’s Diary is pulled from shelves of school libraries in a school district of Fort Worth, Texas

Together with the respective school boards, ultra-conservative parents in the USA are continuing their school-cleansing campaigns against supposedly indecent literature in school and class libraries.

16.08.2022

Palestinian President Abbas feeds anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic aggressions with Holocaust comparison.

Commenting in Berlin on today’s statements and Holocaust comparison by Palestinian President Abbas during a press conference with Federal Chancellor Scholz, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

08.08.2022

Zofia Posmysz, prominent Polish author and Auschwitz survivor has died at the age of 98.

Auschwitz survivors around the globe are bidding farewell with sadness, heartfelt gratitude and great esteem, from their friend, fellow sufferer, companion and renowned writer Zofia Posmysz, who died today aged 98 in the Hospice of Oswiecim.

05.08.2022

Czech-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee Professor Felix Kolmer dies aged 100

Professor Felix Kolmer, the Czech-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, passed away this morning at the Hagibor retirement home in Prague aged 100.

September 2022

26.09.2022

IAC response to the election result in Italy

Speaking at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on the result of the Italian election and the foreseeable victory of the Fratelli d’Italia party (FDI) and other far-right parties:

25.09.2022

At the end of documenta fifteen all that remains is a pile of rubble

Speaking at the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented on the end of documenta fifteen as follows:

20.09.2022

Open Letter from Volkswagen trainees to the Iranian president in response to his playing down of the Holocaust.

In a joint project with the International Auschwitz Committee fourteen Volkswagen trainees from Wolfsburg, Zwickau, Chemnitz and Dresden are working together to preserve and maintain the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

11.09.2022

Auschwitz survivors send a message to King Charles III

In January 2017, the International Auschwitz Committee presented Charles, Prince of Wales, with its Statue of Remembrance at St James’s Palace in London. The statue depicts the inverted letter B which the prisoners deliberately turned upside down in a demonstration of courage and defiance when they...

07.09.2022

16th General Assembly of the International Auschwitz Committee in Oswiecim/Auschwitz

Today, in Oswiecim Poland, the General Assembly of the International Auschwitz Committee ended. It takes place every five years. This year it was attended by Auschwitz survivors, relatives and descendants of the camp survivors, and representatives from Auschwitz foundations in 11 different...

October 2022

21.10.2022

Auschwitz survivor Zilli Schmidt has died at the age of 98.

Zilli Schmidt, who died today aged 98, was one of the last witnesses of the genocide against the Sinti and Roma. Speaking in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to Zilli as follows:

17.10.2022

International Auschwitz Committee congratulates President Van der Bellen on his re-election

Letter from Marian Turski and Christoph Heubner to the President of the Republic of Austria.

11.10.2022

Outrage at behaviour of AfD politician from Thuringia at the Holocaust Memorial

In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the behaviour of the AfD politician Holger Winterstein at the Holocaust Memorial saying:

07.10.2022

Nobel Peace Prize 2022 awarded to Belarussian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.

Commenting on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

November 2022

29.11.2022

Current developments surrounding Twitter and the network service’s owner Elon Musk.

Holocaust survivors are deeply concerned as they follow the current developments surrounding the social network service Twitter.

12.11.2022

Remembering the world-renowned writer and Auschwitz survivor Tadeusz Borowski who was born 100 years ago on 12 November 1922.

To this day, his two collections of stories: Here in Our Auschwitz and Other Stories, and This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, both published in Poland in 1946, remain particularly disturbing and moving accounts of the horrors in Auschwitz for readers of classic world literature.

December 2022

20.12.2022

Stutthof Trial: Accessory to murder of more than 11,000 people

In Itzehoe, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented as follows on the upcoming verdict in the Stutthof Trial against Irmgard F., the former secretary to the camp commandant, who is facing the charge of being an accessory to the murder of more...

19.12.2022

Holocaust Literature should be obligatory in German curriculum

Commenting on the appeal made by the representation of German subject teachers to the ministers of education, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, said:

10.12.2022

The political consequences of the raid against the far-right milieu on 7 December 2022

In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the political consequences of the raid against the far-right (Reichsbürger) milieu as follows:

07.12.2022

Raid targeting right-wing extremists in Germany

Commenting on today’s raid by security forces, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said in Berlin: