Archive Press 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

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

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...

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...

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...

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.

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:

Archive Press 2025

January 2025

25.01.2025

80 years after Auschwitz: Demonstrations send a powerful message strengthening the firewall against right-wing extremism.

Commenting on today's demonstrations against right-wing extremism and the stability of the “firewall” in Germany, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, emphasized:

29.01.2025

"A fatal mistake" – Holocaust survivors concerned about political developments in the German Bundestag

Commenting on today's situation in the German Bundestag - the hour of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust and the subsequent debate on the possible joint vote by the CDU and AfD - Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, stated in Berlin:

February 2025

09.02.2025

Auschwitz survivors congratulate Gerhard Richter on his 93rd birthday and thank him for his remembrance work

Today is the birthday of artist Gerhard Richter. Speaking in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, congratulated the artist as follows:

18.02.2025

The International Auschwitz Committee mourns the death of its president, the Jewish-Polish Auschwitz survivor and journalist Marian Turski.

Marian Turski was born in 1926. He was imprisoned with his family in the Lodz ghetto as a teenager and deported from there to Auschwitz. He was 20 years old when he was liberated, in his own words more dead than alive, following the death march from Auschwitz to Theresienstadt. Speaking in Berlin,...

March 2025

06.03.2025

Holocaust survivor Albrecht Weinberg will be 100 years old on 7 March

Speaking in Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee congratulated Albrecht Weinberg on his100th birthday:

April 2025

08.04.2025

80th anniversary of the murder of the protestant theologian and resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer on 9 April 1945 in Flossenbürg concentration camp

Holocaust survivors around the globe are now honouring the memory of the German theologian and resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was murdered at Floßenbürg concentration camp on 9 April 1945, two weeks before it was liberated. Adolf Hitler gave the explicit order himself.

21.04.2025

Auschwitz survivors throughout the world are bidding farewell to Pope Francis

On the death of Pope Francis, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute in Berlin:

May 2025

05.05.2025

AfD classified as extreme-right. What Holocaust survivors now expect from the federal government.

In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the classification of the AfD as "right-wing extremist" by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the expectations of the new German government:

08.05.2025

Commemorating 80th anniversary of VE Day

For survivors of the Holocaust, 8 May brought the certainty that those who had humiliated them and their families for many years, persecuted them and deported them to concentration and extermination camps, had now finally been defeated and deprived of power.

09.05.2025

Holocaust survivors pay tribute to Margot Friedländer who has died aged 103.

On receiving the news of the death of Margot Friedländer, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, stated in Berlin:

22.05.2025

Education Minister Prien calls for compulsory visits to concentration camp memorials for school students.

Parallel to follow-up work on an Auschwitz Memorial project with German and Polish trainees from Volkswagen AG, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee commented in Emden, Lower Saxony, on the Education Minister's proposals:

31.05.2025

Auschwitz survivor Eva Umlauf elected as President of the International Auschwitz Committee.

At a meeting of the presidium of the International Auschwitz Committee in Berlin today, the Slovakian-born German-Jewish paediatrician, psychotherapist and Auschwitz survivor Dr Eva Umlauf was elected as the new President of the International Auschwitz Committee. She succeeds the Polish-Jewish...

June 2025

18.06.2025

Expulsion from school after white power salute in Auschwitz

During a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the right-wing extremist gestures of pupils from Greifswald during their visit to the Auschwitz Memorial and the current reactions and debates on the subject:

July 2025

02.07.2025

Munich decision shakes confidence in judicial system

Commenting on the decision by the Munich Administrative Court in the case of Charlotte Knobloch’s right-wing extremist bodyguard, Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee Dr Eva Umlauf stressed:

16.07.2025

100th birthday of Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch on 17 July in London

Speaking in Berlin on the 100th birthday of Auschwitz survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

August 2025

10.08.2025

“Like a second catastrophe” – Holocaust survivors in Israel feel abandoned by Germany

In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, gave a statement on the current situation of Holocaust survivors in Israel and the recent decisions by the German federal government regarding its stance on Israel and arms exports to Israel:

September 2025

18.09.2025

Dark day for culture in Europe

On 18 September, after the board of directors of the Flanders Festival in Ghent had decided that the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and especially its conductor Lahav Shani, would not be performing at the festival as planned today, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International...

October 2025

06.10.2025

Two years after 7 October 2023: Remembrance, solidarity and hope for peace

Around the globe, survivors of the Holocaust are commemorating their fellow sufferers in Israel, whose world was once again torn apart on 7 October 2023 by the terrorist acts of Hamas.