President Reuven Rivlin today (Monday 27 January 2020), participated in the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony marking 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau at the site of the death camp. Survivors of the death camp, President Duda of Poland, the President of the World Jewish Congress Ron Lauder and the head of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Dr. Piotr Cywiński spoke at the ceremony, which concluded with the Kaddish and El Maleh Rachamim prayers.

 

At the end of the ceremony, the president walked together with the presidents of Germany and Poland and over 50 other leaders from around the world who participated in the ceremony. They walked beside the railway tracks from the entrance of Birkenau (Auschwitz I) to the memorial built at the ruins of the crematoria where they lit memorial candles.

 

In the evening, the president will depart for Germany and begin an official visit at the invitation of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. During his visit, the president will give a special address to the Bundestag, the German parliament, in memory of the victims of the Nazis. Later in his visit, the president will hold working meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble and other leaders. He will also meet the leadership of the World Jewish Congress and leaders of Jewish communities across Europe.