President to Attend 80th Anniversary Commemoration of Auschwitz Camp Liberation

Bratislava, January 26 (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini will attend celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland on Monday (January 27) and meet camp survivors with Slovak ethnic background, TASR learnt from the President's Office press department on Sunday. Approximately 30,000-35,000 Jews were deported from Slovakia to Auschwitz-Birkeu, out of which only about 350 survived. The Slovak delegation will include also representatives of the Central Union of the Jewish Religious Communities in Slovakia, the Holocaust Museum in Sered and the Slovak National Museum. "In the company of heads of states, kings, prime ministers, heads of parliaments and their representatives, Peter Pellegrini will take part in the commemorative act of laying a candle as a symbol of paying respects to more than a million people who didn't survive the horrors of the largest Nazi concentration and death camp," stated the press department. The event is going to be held under auspices of Polish President Andrzej Duda, with the turnout expected to reach 3,000, including dozens of Holocaust survivors. Top representatives from about 50 countries of the world will travel to Poland for the ceremony. mf