Pelosi, US bipartisan delegation visit Auschwitz ahead of liberation anniversary

House speaker lays wreath at concentration camp before flying to Israel for commemorative events

By Agencies and ToI Staff 21 January 2020, 2:16 pm Edit
In this image provided by the US Consulate General in Krakow, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi places a memorial light on the monument to some 1.1 million victims of the World War II Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau during a visit to the site of the former camp just days before the 75th anniversary of its 1945 liberation by the Soviet troops, at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, in southern Poland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (US Consulate General in Krakow via AP)
In this image provided by the US Consulate General in Krakow, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi places a memorial light on the monument to some 1.1 million victims of the World War II Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau during a visit to the site of the former camp just days before the 75th anniversary of its 1945 liberation by the Soviet troops, at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, in southern Poland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (US Consulate General in Krakow via AP)

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a Congress delegation on Tuesday paid a visit to the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp ahead of the 75th anniversary of its liberation by Soviet troops.

At the memorial site in southern Poland, Pelosi and Poland’s Senate speaker, Tomasz Grodzki, laid wreaths at the Auschwitz Death Wall where inmates were executed.

In a statement ahead of her trip, Pelosi said it was to “reaffirm America’s enduring commitment, our sacred pledge: Never again.”

“We must honor the memories of those murdered in this incomprehensible horror by maintaining constant vigilance against hatred and persecution today,” read the statement.

From Poland, Pelosi and the bipartisan delegation of six Congress members travel to Israel to attend a conference marking the anniversary of the World War II camp’s liberation.

From 1940 to 1945, some 1.1 million people, mostly Europe’s Jews, were killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

It was liberated January 27, 1945, by the Red Army.

In this image provided by the US Consulate General in Krakow, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, center, and speakers of Poland’s parliament lay wreaths at the executions Death Wall of the World War II Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau during a visit to the site of the former camp just days before the 75th anniversary of its 1945 liberation by the Soviet troops, at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, in southern Poland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (US Consulate General in Krakow via AP)

In total, 47 delegations of world leaders, including 26 presidents, four kings and four prime ministers, will arrive in Israel this week for the events.

The first portion of the event — a state dinner hosted at the President’s Residence — will be held on Wednesday evening.

A memorial dedication — commemorating the Soviet Union’s victory in Leningrad — will be held on Thursday at approximately 11 a.m. in Jerusalem’s Sacher Park, followed by the main ceremony at Yad Vashem on Thursday afternoon.

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