U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Friday commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, formally declaring a “National Day of Remembrance of the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.”
“Driven by virulent hatred and unspeakable cruelty, the Nazis implemented a systematic and methodical plan to exterminate the Jewish people and others they deemed undesirable. Two out of three Jews in Europe and millions of other people were murdered. They were sent to ghettos, concentration camps and death camps where they were persecuted, imprisoned, starved, tortured and executed. It is simply unthinkable that such barbarity occurred just 75 years ago,” it states.
The proclamation goes on to say that Holocaust survivors have told their story, and that the world should learn from the European genocide that killed 11 million people—6 million of them Jews.
At least 1.1 million people perished at Auschwitz, most of them Jews.
“Today, we honor the memory of those who were killed in the Holocaust. We cherish the survivors who ensured the perpetuation of the Jewish people,” continues the proclamation. “And we offer a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid to our brave soldiers who sacrificed everything for freedom.”