China’s prime minister visits Auschwitz death camp

Lessons drawn from Holocaust should help build a safer future for the world, says Wen Jiabao

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — China’s prime minister has paid homage to the victims of World War II Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz saying that lessons drawn from it should help build a safer future for the world.

Wen Jiabao paid the visit to the Auschwitz memorial on Friday, following two days of political and business talks in Warsaw.

At the memorial in southern Poland Wen walked through the camp’s main gate with the ironic “Arbeit Macht Frei” — German for “Work Sets You Free” — and laid flowers at the Death Wall where the Germans executed Polish resistance members.

He said atrocities like those at Auschwitz oblige people to protect peace and dignity.

Between 1940-45 some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, died in Auschwitz gas chambers of from disease, hunger and forced labor.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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