Politicians were asked not to speak at this year's event, as it could be the last time survivors gather on 27 January, the date when the Soviets liberated the Nazi death camp in 1945.
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00:00Holocaust survivors warned of rising anti-Semitism as they gathered in southern Poland to commemorate
00:07the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
00:11Given the age and frailty of the survivors, some believe it could be the last time they
00:15met at the site to mark the day Soviet troops liberated the camp.
00:20The organizers therefore decided to make the survivors the central focus and asked politicians
00:25not to speak on stage.
00:27We have an obligation not only to remember, which is very, very important, but also to
00:38warn and to teach that hatred only begets more hatred, killing more killing.
00:48Many of the speakers warned the audience about the dangers of rising anti-Semitism, saying
00:53it was such hatred that led the Nazis to kill millions of Jews in World War II.
00:57German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized recent remarks made by billionaire
01:02Elon Musk, who denounced Germany for putting too much focus on past guilt at an AFD election
01:07rally over the weekend.
01:09Steinmeier said that Auschwitz stood for murders planned and meticulously prepared by Germans,
01:14which the nation does not forget.
01:16But it is now up to us, our generations, to pass on their warning and their expectation
01:25of the next generations and I say as German President, we in Germany, we do not forget.
01:39Other world leaders who traveled to Auschwitz for the ceremony included Ukrainian President
01:44Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.