Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has pledged £300,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation "to help ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten". Today's announcement comes as the Mayor confirmed that he would visit Auschwitz-Birkenau later this month to attend a special service marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp.
The foundation manages the conservation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau site, including the camp infrastructure and personal items of victims. The grant from London will support the preservation of the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria, the conservation of the barracks and preserving collections and exhibits.
The UK provides the most international visitors to the site, with approximately 300,000 people, including schoolchildren, visiting each year.
Mr Khan said: “The Holocaust was one of the darkest times in human history and we must never forget the atrocities committed.
“As the years pass - and as we have fewer survivors to pass on their stories - it is vital that we work even harder to preserve the site and ensure younger generations learn the lessons from history. These lessons are all the more significant as we see antisemitism and hate crime on the rise."
The Mayor added: “I am deeply honoured to have been invited to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where, on behalf of London, I will stand with survivors and cities and countries from around the world to remember all those who were killed in, and suffered the horrors of, the Holocaust.”
Foundation president Piotr Cywiński welcomed "the decision of London to join the international coalition of donors. With increasing numbers of visitors at the Auschwitz Memorial each year, our responsibility to save its authenticity is a growing necessity. That is why I am deeply grateful to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the city’s residents for their historical commitment. We are doing this for our common future.”
Survivor Lily Ebert said she was 14 when deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, "having travelled in a cattle truck for many days with no food and barely any water. People died during that horrific journey. When the cattle trucks finally stopped, we arrived at Auschwitz and it was here that I was separated from my family, never to see them again.
“I promised myself that if by some miracle I survived, I would tell others my story. Today, I tell my story to young people across the country, but I won’t be here to do that forever. When I am not here, I want my story and my family’s story to be remembered. When young people visit Auschwitz, when they see the barracks that I lived in, and the gas chamber where a million people were murdered, my family among them, they start to understand. It has to be preserved so the world will remember.”
