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WORLD NEWS Friday 13 april 2018
Israeli, Polish presidents join Holocaust remembrance march

By VANESSA GERA Jews.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Duda, whose wife has a
The presidents of Israel and Jewish father, insisted the
Poland joined thousands of disputed law never aimed
others Thursday for a Holo- to "block testimony" about
caust remembrance event the Holocaust.
at the former Nazi death "Just the opposite. We
camps of Auschwitz and want to defend historical
Birkenau, hoping to put re- truth," Duda said. "I as Polish
cent tensions behind them. president want to defend
Presidents Reuven Rivlin of this truth with all my power,
Israel and Andrzej Duda of including those elements
Poland lit candles, bowed that are difficult for Poles."
their heads and pressed The Jews of Europe and
their hands on the Death ethnic Poles were two of
Wall, a site at Auschwitz the groups who suffered
where inmates, chiefly Pol- most during the German
ish resistance fighters, were wartime occupation, with
executed by Nazi German Jews targeted for total
forces during World War II. elimination and Poles con- Poland's President Andrzej Duda, center right, and Israel's President Reuven Rivlin, center left, walk
They then led thousands, in- sidered a slave race. Many in the March of the Living, a yearly Holocaust remembrance march between the former Nazi Ger-
man death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland, on Thursday, April 12, 2018.
cluding many young Jews Poles were killed, tortured Associated Press
from around the world, in or forced into slave labor.
the March of the Living, Yet many bitter feelings re- solve a serious and difficult 1.1 million people in the mostly Jews, but also in-
which takes place each main today between Jews problem." Auschwitz and Birkenau cluded Poles, Roma and
year on Israel's Holocaust and Poles, as Jews remem- Nazi Germany killed some camps. The victims were Soviet POWs.q
Remembrance Day. ber Polish anti-Semitism
The solemn march began that in some cases turned
at the main gate of Aus- deadly.
chwitz and ended 3 kilo- Many Poles, meanwhile,
meters (2 miles) away at feel the extent of Polish
Birkenau, where Jews from anti-Semitism is often exag-
across Europe were trans- gerated and that wartime
ported by train and mur- Polish efforts to help Jews
dered in gas chambers. are being forgotten. Many
Duda said he and Rivlin bristle that their own trag-
were there to give testimo- edy is not as well known as
ny to the destruction of the that of the Jews.
Jewish people and warn At Birkenau, the leaders
about where anti-Semitism, paid tribute to the immense
xenophobia and racism suffering that Germany in-
can lead. flicted both on Jews and
"Our common presence Poles.
here shows the world: Nev- Rivlin noted that Poland
er again anti-Semitism, nev- barely survived as a na-
er again genocide, never tion and acknowledged
again Holocaust," Duda the thousands of Poles who
said during a joint news put their own lives at risk to
conference. help Jews, vowing that Is-
Rivlin recalled how Poland rael would "honor them for-
was the cradle of Jewish ever."
culture before the Holo- But he also recalled how
caust. But he also referred Jews were murdered dur-
to the "deep disagree- ing the war not only by
ment" his country has had Germans, but also by Lithu-
with Poland over its pas- anians, Belgians and oth-
sage earlier this year of a ers, including Poles.
Holocaust speech law. Duda recalled Polish war-
The law criminalizes blam- time heroes who struggled
ing Poland for crimes com- to save Jews and said Po-
mitted by Nazi German land fulfills its duty to re-
forces during their wartime member the Holocaust by
occupation. The Polish preserving sites like Aus-
government says its aim is chwitz.
to prevent Poland from un- Poland's chief rabbi, Mi-
fairly being blamed for Ger- chael Schudrich, said he
many's crimes. was convinced the ef-
Israel fears the law's true forts by the two presidents
intent is to whitewash Pol- moved their countries
ish sins by repressing discus- closer to reconciliation. He
sion about those Poles who described them as "two
helped the Germans kill friends working hard to re-