Archive Events 2024

January 2024

13.01.2024

Invitation to Holocaust Remembrance Day in Wolfsburg on 24 January 2024

An alarming rise in anti-Semitic violence that is being fed from different sources, racial hatred and the despicable denigration of democracy. There are many ceremonies and occasions marking the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, to commemorate the origins and fates of those murdered...

February 2024

21.02.2024

Book presentation in memory of the Holocaust survivor Éva Fahidi at the FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture

Presentation of the Hungarian translation of the book "Ich sehe Hunde, die an der Leine reißen" (Kutyákat látok, akik feszítik a pórázt / I see dogs straining at their leashes) by Christoph Heubner in memory of the Auschwitz survivor and translator Éva Fahidi.

22.02.2024

Book presentation in memory of the Holocaust survivor Éva Fahidi at the Déri Museum, Debrecen, Hungary.

The German Cultural Forum in Debrecen, Hungary, is presenting the Hungarian translation of the story collection by Christoph Heubner at the Déri Museum: "Ich sehe Hunde, die an der Leine reissen" ("Kutyákat látok, akik feszítik a pórázt" / I see dogs straining at their leashes).

29.02.2024

Event "To Remembrance" at the German School Lisbon

As part of their event tour in Portugal, Christoph Heubner and the Trio to RememBer visited the German School Lisbon on 29.2.2024 to commemorate the Holocaust through literature and music in two events for pupils during the day and an open event in the evening and to provide information about the...

March 2024

01.03.2024

March 1, 2024 in Lisbon: Literary-musical remembrance of the Holocaust.

As part of their event tour in Portugal, Christoph Heubner and the Trio to RememBer visited one of the world's most beautiful bookshops, the "Livraria Ler Devagar" in Lisbon, on March 1, 2024, to commemorate the Holocaust through literature and music and to provide information about the work of the...

02.03.2024

Invitation to a literary-musical remembrance of the Holocaust

The German Evangelical Church Community of Lisbon invites you to a literary-musical remembrance of the Holocaust with Christoph Heubner and the "Trio to RememBer".

14.03.2024

Invitation to the reading by Christoph Heubner on 23.3.2024

The Förderverein für die Internationale Jugendbegegnungsstätte (IJBS) Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Polen e.V., the Wissenschaftliches Büro Leipzig, the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw), and the Erich Zeigner Haus e.V. invite you to a reading by Christoph Heubner on March 23, 2024.

June 2024

02.06.2024

Remembrance initiative by the International Auschwitz Committee in Berlin.

The occasion is the fifth anniversary of the murder of the Kassel District President Dr Walter Lübcke, who was literally executed in June 2019 in his home town near Kassel by well-known right-wing extremists because of his political views. At the time, the murder of the Kassel government president...

02.06.2024

Commemorative action of the International Auschwitz Committee in Berlin

The occasion is the fifth anniversary of the murder of the Kassel District President Dr. Walter Lübcke, who was literally executed in June 2019 in his home town near Kassel by well-known right-wing extremists because of his political views. At the time, the murder of the Kassel government president...

Archive Announcements 2024

January 2024

27.01.2024

taz interview with Marian Turski about ghetto photos

Marian Turski (98), President of the International Auschwitz Committee, and Chairman of the POLIN Museum Council, appeals to Germans to rescue Holocaust documents.

26.01.2024

79th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee made the following statement about tomorrow’s 79th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz:

20.01.2024

A powerful signal sent out by the citizens and a boost for democracy

Commenting in Berlin on the numerous demonstrations against the far-right in Germany, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

12.01.2024

Holocaust survivors are appalled: right-wing extremist plans re-awaken grim memories.

Commenting in Berlin on the AfD’s participation in the discussion of right-wing extremist expulsion plans, Christoph Heubner, the executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

09.01.2024

Holocaust survivors are shocked at the brutalization of political dialogue and current strategies of extreme right-wing parties in Europe.

Commenting on the brutalization of political dialogue and the current strategies of extreme right-wing parties in Europe, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

03.01.2024

Shoah survivor Franz Michalski has died

Franz Michalski died in Berlin just a few days ago. Together with his wife Petra, he was one of those tireless witnesses of the times in Berlin who gave accounts, especially to young people, telling about their memories and experiences in the years of National Socialist persecution, and about the...

February 2024

17.02.2024

Marian Turski on the death of Alexei Navalny

In the tradition of our European civilization - Prometheus was the first to sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity. The recent one is Alexei Navalny.

09.02.2024

Opening of the Gerhard Richter Birkenau Pavilion

A powerful signal against oblivion: In Oswiecim/Auschwitz the Birkenau Paintings by Gerhard Richter are now accessible to the public. The four world-famous works by the artist are being displayed in a pavilion built specifically for this purpose.

March 2024

28.03.2024

Golden Medal for Civil Merit to the Association of Italian political deportees from Nazi concentration camps (ANED).

With an official decree signed on March 28th, 2024, the President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, awarded ANED the Golden Medal for Civil Merit for its “outstanding work in defense of the values of the Constitution and the ideals of the Resistance against Nazism and Fascism. For the...

19.03.2024

80th anniversary of the German occupation of Hungary and the deportation of the Hungarian Jewish families to Auschwitz

Today, Auschwitz survivors around the world are commemorating 19 March 1944 when, eighty years ago, the German Wehrmacht occupied Hungary on Hitler's orders (Operation Margarethe). Also on that day, the SS managed to lay its murderous hands on the last remaining large group of Jewish people in...

04.03.2024

IAC criticizes planned TV discussion between Thuringian CDU chairman Mario Voigt and Thuringian AfD top candidate Björn Höcke on 11 April

Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented in Berlin on the planned election campaign discussion between the Thuringian CDU chairman Mario Voigt and the leading Thuringian AfD candidate Björn Höcke on 11 April, the day of the liberation of the...

April 2024

18.04.2024

Christoph Heubner, writer and Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, is the first German to be awarded the Medal of Honour in Memory of the Ghetto Uprising.

On the occasion of today's commemorations of the 81st anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Christoph Heubner, writer and Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, received the Medal of Honour in Memory of the Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw today. This is the first time...

13.04.2024

Simon Wiesenthal Prize for Marian Turski, President of the International Auschwitz Committee and Auschwitz survivor.

Vienna - At a moving ceremony in the Austrian Parliament, Marian Turski was honoured as an internationally respected dialogue partner and witness of the times for tirelessly combatting anti-Semitism. The award ceremony took place during the presentation of the Simon Wiesenthal Prize 2023, at which...

11.04.2024

TV duel between Mario Voigt and Björn Höcke on today’s Remembrance Day for the Liberation of Buchenwald.

During a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial with German and Polish trainees, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on today's TV duel between CDU politician Mario Voigt and Björn Höcke of the AfD:

May 2024

26.05.2024

President Macron honours Beate and Serge Klarsfeld with a high award from the French Republic

Commenting in Berlin on tomorrow’s ceremony for the decoration of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld with a high award from the French Republic by President Macron alongside his state visit to Germany, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

23.05.2024

The Jewish girl learned how to play the accordion in Auschwitz concentration camp. It saved her life.

Thursday, 23 May 2024. Today the google doodle is celebrating the invention of the accordion. And we are celebrating Esther Bejarano. She was born in 1924 as the daughter of a Jewish cantor in Saarlouis. Her life was saved in Auschwitz by an accordion and a lie.

13.05.2024

Strong signal for democracy: Holocaust survivors grateful for ruling against AfD

In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on today's ruling by the Münster Higher Administrative Court in the case of AfD vs. the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV):

08.05.2024

Hope in challenging times: Holocaust survivors commemorate liberation on 8 May 2024 and appeal for a united, diverse and democratic Europe

Holocaust survivors remember 8 May 1945 as the day they were liberated from the concentration and extermination camps, and as the day when Nazi Germany was finally defeated together with its anti-Semitic, murderous ideology.

01.05.2024

International Auschwitz Committee mourns the death of writer Paul Auster

In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to the writer Paul Auster who has died aged 77:

June 2024

27.06.2024

Holocaust survivors welcome the renewed conviction of the notorious Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck

During a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, welcomed the renewed conviction of the notorious Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck as follows:

26.06.2024

The International Auschwitz Committee congratulates its president Marian Turski on his 98th birthday.

Marian Turski was 14 years old when he was deported with his family to the Lodz ghetto. And he was 18 years old when he was deported from Lodz to Auschwitz on one of the last rail transports to leave the city. His father and brother were both murdered after selection. Marian Turski survived two...

24.06.2024

IAC supports the urgent letter sent to the Federal Chancellor by democratic organizations concerning changes to the non-profit law in Germany

More than 100 associations and foundations have sent an urgent letter to Chancellor Scholz, because they see their position opposing right-wing extremism threatened by AfD interventions against the granting of non-profit status based on current non-profit law. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice...

14.06.2024

IAC mourns Gerhard Merz, chairman of the Auschwitz Camp Community – Friends of Auschwitz.

During a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the death of Gerhard Merz:

10.06.2024

European election results are a ‘depressing turning point’

Commenting on the results of the 2024 European elections, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial:

07.06.2024

International Auschwitz Committee calls for resignation of TU President Geraldine Rauch

The Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, today addressed this open letter to the President of the TU Berlin, Geraldine Rauch, who yesterday refused to resign from office following her anti-Semitic gaffes.

05.06.2024

80th anniversary of D-Day: Holocaust survivors around the world remember with deepest gratitude the Allied soldiers who defeated Hitler's Germany and gave them back their lives.

In mid-June 1944, more than half a million people from many European countries were being held in German concentration camps, tortured, humiliated and exploited as slave labourers. In mid-June 1944, it was mainly the freight wagons carrying Jewish families from Hungary that rolled into Auschwitz.

04.06.2024

French-Jewish Auschwitz survivor Esther Senot visits the French embassy in Berlin

On 4 June, Esther Senot, a French-Jewish Auschwitz survivor born in Poland in 1928, was a guest at the French Embassy in Berlin. She was invited to talk with pupils from Potsdam and Berlin about her memories and experiences during the time of persecution, and deportation to Auschwitz, where her...

July 2024

26.07.2024

In memory of Alberto Errera, the prisoner who documented the Holocaust in photographs.

Who was Alberto Errera? A Greek Jew, a naval officer, prisoner no.18 25 52 in Auschwitz and ─ unquestionably ─ a resistance fighter, a fearless hero.

23.07.2024

80th anniversary marking the liberation of Majdanek concentration and extermination camp

On the night of 22-23 July 1944, the Red Army liberated Majdanek camp near Lublin in eastern Poland. It was the first concentration and extermination camp to be liberated. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized this in Berlin:

20.07.2024

80th anniversary of the 20 July 1944 uprising and the liberation of Majdanek concentration and extermination camp on 23 July 1944.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the 20 July uprising and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Majdanek concentration and extermination camp, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized in Berlin:

07.07.2024

Election forecast in France is an encouraging signal for Europe.

Commenting in Berlin on the election forecast in France, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

01.07.2024

Survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps are alarmed at the shift to the right in France

Commenting on the results of the first round of the parliamentary elections in France, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, stressed:

August 2024

31.08.2024

1 September 1939: Start of World War II. IAC warns against voting for right-wing extremists and Nazis whose ideology has already driven Europe into war and destruction.

Speaking during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial and marking tomorrow's commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

September 2024

29.09.2024

Holocaust survivors are deeply concerned by the election result in Austria: strengthening of the FPÖ is an alarming signal, but they hope for democratic resistance

Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the first projections for the national elections in Austria:

26.09.2024

AfD exposes itself as a threat to democracy and the constitution in the first session of the Thuringian state parliament

Commenting on today's first session of the newly elected Thuringian state parliament, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

22.09.2024

Holocaust survivors are alarmed: AfD success in Brandenburg seen as a threatening signal - A call for the defence of democracy

Following the first projections for the state election in Brandenburg, Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, stated during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial:

17.09.2024

Arnold Schwarzenegger is awarded an honorary doctorate at the Hertie School in Berlin

Auschwitz survivors around the globe are delighted and congratulate Arnold Schwarzenegger on being awarded an honorary doctorate by the Hertie School in Berlin today. Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said during a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial:

01.09.2024

Anticipated results in the state elections of Saxony and Thuringia are deeply disconcerting for the survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps.

During a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the expected results of today's state elections in Saxony and Thuringia:

October 2024

19.10.2024

Professor Yehuda Bauer, a great contemporary witness and Holocaust historian has died

Yesterday, Friday, Professor Yehuda Bauer passed away in a retirement home in Jerusalem at the age of 98. Yehuda Bauer was born Martin Bauer in Prague in 1926. At the last moment, on 15 March 1939, the day the German Wehrmacht invaded Prague, the Bauer family finally managed to leave on their...

07.10.2024

80 years after the Sonderkommando revolt in Auschwitz: Holocaust survivors commemorate the victims of 1944 and are horrified by the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023

For Auschwitz survivors, on 7 October there is a terrible intermingling of memories past and present involving the threats and murderous violence to which Jewish people have been, and still are, exposed.

02.10.2024

Rosch Haschana 2024

To all the survivors and to all our friends all over the world, especially in these days: A happy and peaceful new year: schana towa!

November 2024

21.11.2024

International Auschwitz Committee withdraws from social media platform X (formerly twitter).

With immediate effect, the International Auschwitz Committee is withdrawing from the social media channel X and will now communicate via Bluesky. Speaking in Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the Committee, emphasized:

09.11.2024

Inauguration of the Justin Sonder sculpture in Chemnitz

On 9 November 2024, the sculpture by artist Julia Kausch of Chemnitz was inaugurated in that city. The sculpture is dedicated to Auschwitz survivor and honorary citizen, Justin Sonder.

07.11.2024

German Bundestag passes resolution on anti-Semitism

Speaking in Berlin on the occasion of the newly passed anti-Semitism resolution by the German Bundestag, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said: