Auschwitz survivors tell their stories 80 years on

Kings and queens, presidents, prime ministers and dignitaries from 54 countries will assemble at Auschwitz today to mark the 80th anniversary of the death camp's liberation - but the world's focus will be firmly on its few remaining survivors.

- Jon Henley

About 50 former inmates are expected to attend the ceremony at the complex in Poland where Nazi Germany murdered more than a million people, most of them Jews, but also Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war and gay people.

An audience including King Charles, King Felipe VI of Spain and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, as well as France's president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will hear their voices.

"This year, we are focusing on the survivors and their message," said Pawel Sawicki, the Auschwitz museum spokesperson. "We all know that for the 90th anniversary, it will not be possible to have a large group. There will not be any speeches by politicians."

Besides the survivors, only Piotr Cywiński, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum and memorial, and Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, representing key donors, are due to speak during the 90-minute ceremony.

The commemoration has added significance not just because most survivors are in their 90s and will not be able to tell their stories for much longer, but because current wars and increasingly polarised politics make their testimony as vital as ever.

Nazi German authorities established the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1940 in former barracks in the Polish town of Oświęcim, using it at first to hold Polish prisoners, including Catholic priests and members of the resistance.