Leaders mark Auschwitz liberation 70 years on without Putin

[Lite Beer]

Leaders mark Auschwitz liberation 70 years on without Putin
VANESSA GERA, Associated Press

BRZEZINKA, Poland (AP) — When the Soviet army entered Auschwitz exactly 70 years ago, finding piles of corpses and prisoners close to death, a Russian soldier took a small and hungry 11-year-old girl into his arms and rocked her tenderly, tears coming to his eyes.

That girl, today 81-year-old Paula Lebovics, doesn't know who that soldier was, but she still feels enormous gratitude to him and the other Soviet soldiers who liberated the camp on Jan. 27, 1945.

To her, it is a shame that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be among other European leaders Tuesday on the anniversary of the death camp's liberation, his absence coming amid a deep chill between Russia and the West over the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine.

"He should be there," said Lebovics, who traveled from her home in Encino, California, back to the land of her birth for the ceremonies. "They were our liberators."

Another survivor, Eva Mozes Kor, said she will not miss Putin, "but I do believe that from a moral and historical perspective he should be here." Kor compared Putin to Adolf Hitler, "grabbing land here and grabbing land there to see what he can get away with."

Among the leaders to attend are the presidents of Germany and Austria, the perpetrator nations that have spent decades atoning for their sins, as well as French President Francois Hollande and others. The U.S. is sending a delegation led by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

The participants will gather under an enormous tent covering the gate and railroad tracks of Birkenau, a part of the vast Auschwitz-Birkenau complex where Jews, Gypsies and others were transported by train and murdered in gas chambers. It is located in the Polish village of Brzezinka, which during the war belonged to a large section of Poland that was under German occupation.

Before going to Poland for the ceremonies, German President Joachim Gauck told the Parliament in Berlin that the lessons of the crimes of Auschwitz were "woven into the texture of our national identity."

From the "guilt and shame and remorse" of the Nazi genocide, modern Germany has emerged to become a champion of human rights and equality, he said.

"We did that as we returned to the rule and dignity of law," he said. "We did it as we developed empathy for the victims. And today we do it as we oppose all forms of exclusion and violence and offer a safe home to all those who are fleeing persecution, war and terror."

Pope Francis said on Twitter that "Auschwitz cries out with the pain of immense suffering and pleads for a future of respect, peace and encounter among peoples."

Poland apparently snubbed Putin, though officials won't admit that openly. The organizers, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the International Auschwitz Council, opted for a form of protocol this year that avoided direct invitations by Poland's president to his foreign counterparts. The organizers instead simply asked countries that are donors to Auschwitz, including Russia, whom they planned to send. Poland's Foreign Ministry says Putin could have attended if he wished.

The public spat comes at a low point in relations between Russia and the West, following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and its support for the rebel forces battling Kiev's troops in eastern Ukraine. Poland has been one of Europe's most vocal countries in condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine, which has plunged the continent into one of the worst East-West crises since the end of the Cold War.

The Russian delegation will be led by Sergei Ivanov, Putin's chief of staff.

Some other Holocaust survivors, asked Monday at Auschwitz about who should represent Russia, didn't want to discuss the matter, saying it was a time to honor Holocaust victims, not enter into political polemics. Some reacted emotionally at the mention of the conflict in Ukraine, remembering how Ukrainians helped the Nazis kill Jews during the war.

Not all Soviet actions were heroic: there were also cases of Soviet soldiers who raped Jewish women who survived death camps after the war.

"A lot of people have bad memories from that (the liberation), but I have good ones. I am very grateful," Lebovics said.

Natan Grossmann, a survivor who now lives in Munich, also feels Putin should have been invited.

"They put their lives on the line to free us. They lost their lives and we should honor them," Grossmann said.

At the United Nations, commemorations planned for Tuesday, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, were canceled because of a snowstorm in New York.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had been scheduled to speak along with the head of Yad Vashem, Avner Shalev. The event has tentatively been rescheduled for Wednesday, depending on the weather.

_____

Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-27

[GentlemanJim]

Poland apparently snubbed Putin, though officials won't admit that openly. The organizers, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the International Auschwitz Council, opted for a form of protocol this year that avoided direct invitations by Poland's president to his foreign counterparts. The organizers instead simply asked countries that are donors to Auschwitz, including Russia, whom they planned to send. Poland's Foreign Ministry says Putin could have attended if he wished.

The Devil is in the detail !

[Chicog]

I wonder.....

Soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates of Auschwitz Concentration Camp on January 27, 1945

[MrWorldwide]

I've seen estimates as high as 30 million for the total Russian casualties as a result of WWII, including those who died of hunger, disease and exposure. Stalin's brutality toward his own people, and those of new additions to the USSR, continued for many years after the war - Putin would dearly love to recapture those 'glory days' and his efforts in Ukraine are testament to that. Kudos to Poland for not inviting the prick.

[Dannyboy666]

You live through Hell in a Deathcamp, and then you are Raped by these Pigs...

[Publicus]

Yes, Poland and the Polish pope of the time lit the spark that led to the demise of the Russian Soviet Union and its empire which included Poland and Ukraine among many other subjugated states. The Auschwitz camp being in Poland gives the Poles a moral authority from the Soviet Russian invasion of it in 1939 right up to the present circumstances to tell Putin to bugger off. I propose a toast....

Ukraine also knows the cruel rule of the Russian Soviet Union over it, and now comes this, the Crimea, the Donbas...and Putin is not finished yet. He needs the land access thru Ukraine to Crimea and he wants the Donbas to be at the least autonomous and thereby an effective part of his backward novoRussia.

Ukrainians however know their history. It is intimately connected with Soviet Russia and to the 1000 years of the tsars who in turn yielded to a Soviet Russia. That is 1000 years of totalitarian rule and dictatorship. Which has necessarily meant mass poverty and most recently a marked and crude dedication to extend the worst aspects of those 1000 years into the present and indefinitely.

So since the fall of the Soviet Union and empire in 1991, Ukraine too has seen the future and they like the future because they are looking West, at Europe and across Europe to North America. They like what they see. It's what they want. Putin in all of his delusions of some historical glory of Russia hates it. Putin can't stand it. Putin thinks Russia and its history is a good thing. Putin believes Soviet Russia was the best thing since some guy named Vladimir a thousand years ago started the chain of events that gave us this one.

Putin has never apologized to Eurasians or to Europeans or to the world for the Soviet Union he served as a KGB officer. Putin's moral compass spins rather than points, which is why he is being snubbed on this day and it is why he is being excised out of the picture regionally and globally. Putin and all of his historical and ideological baggage is a force of absolutely no good, none whatsoever.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Publicus

[squarethecircle]

"Putin has never apologized to Eurasians or to Europeans or to the world for the Soviet Union he served as a KGB officer. Putin's moral compass spins rather than points, which is why he is being snubbed on this day and it is why he is being excised out of the picture regionally and globally. Putin and all of his historical and ideological baggage is a force of absolutely no good, none whatsoever."

Well put! and thanks for the history lesson

[ABCer]

Here is my 'two bits' on the issue.

1) Whatever is said here about Putin is true. He is bad news for Russia, for Ukraine, for Europe and USA.

2) But Putin is the President of Russia. Russia has beaten the Nazis in WWII. Russian Army liberated Auschwitz. He should have been there.

3) There are great and bitter differences between Russia and the West at the moment. Yet the situation is not as bad as the Cold War.

4) Before the present chill turns into Cold War or into a Hot War - the duty of all World Leaders is to work towards solution - a diplomatic one.

5) I cannot see neither Russia nor the West working towards any solution but rather towards an escalation of the present tensions.

6) Sanctions are one thing. They are persuasive and slowly working. Insulting the President of a great and powerful country is another thing.

7) Obama and NATO are behaving undiplomatically, unwise and in a non constructive way towards Putin.

8) The general impression is - they are itching for a test of strength with Russia militarily - very foolish and dangerous stand.

Not one of the countries presently related to this Auschwitz incident is without reproach - USA, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and so on.

[Publicus]

The bottom line is that the Nazi Germans and the Soviet Russians made a cynical treaty that went sour.

The Germans to their credit have since made great efforts to atone for it and everything that followed.

The Russians have made no such efforts or any acknowledgement of their guilt. The Russians instead have ridden the wave of the victory that came after Hitler betrayed their alliance by invading Russia and after Hitler made the serious error of declaring war against the United States.

As Soviet Russia defeated the Nazis it grabbed the whole of eastern Europe to subjugate it under totalitarian communism and Russian rule. Putin is trying to compensate for that even if it might mean starting another serious conflict.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Publicus

[Steely Dan]

With the current state of unreality with world affairs I wonder whether Mahmoud Abbas got an invite, as he did for the funerals of The French terrorism victims.

[ABCer]

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The bottom line is that the Nazi Germans and the Soviet Russians made a cynical treaty that went sour.

The Germans to their credit have since made great efforts to atone for it and everything that followed.

The Russians have made no such efforts or any acknowledgement of their guilt. The Russians instead have ridden the wave of the victory that came after Hitler betrayed their alliance by invading Russia and after Hitler made the serious error of declaring war against the United States.

As Soviet Russia defeated the Nazis it grabbed the whole of eastern Europe to subjugate it under totalitarian communism and Russian rule. Putin is trying to compensate for that even if it might mean starting another serious conflict.

With the current state of unreality with world affairs I wonder whether Mahmoud Abbas got an invite, as he did for the funerals of The French terrorism victims.

No credit to Germany for atonement - they were defeated.

No blame to Soviets - they were victorious.

A much more serious blame on Russia for not a single attempt of atonement after collapse of the Soviets.

And totally inexcusable blame on USA for choosing impossible alliances.

As to Mahmoud - if he was there(?) it would be a direct insult in the faces of the victims.

But Poles always have been the staunchest of Jew haters in Europe well above Germans.