Holocaust remembered at Auschwitz

A huge delegation from Israel has arrived at Auschwitz in Poland to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is the anniversary of the liberation of the camp in 1945 by Soviet troops.

The 350-strong group included around 20 Holocaust survivors and their families. There were also representatives from European countries including Poland, France, Russia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Spain.

The group toured the camp’s museum and the barracks. The Holocaust was a genocide of around 6 million Jews and others, during during World War II. Approximately 192,000 survivors currently live in Israel.

At least 1.1 million prisoners died at Auschwitz. About 90 percent of them were Jewish.

Conditions were so bad that many of those who were not killed in gas chambers or executed individually died of starvation, forced labour, diseases, and medical experimentation.