Expatica news

Belgium joins global Auschwitz memorial

27 January 2005

BRUSSELS – Belgium has joined the world in marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp.

“We decided, at the request of the Jewish community, to designate 27 January as a day to commemorate the genocide carried out by Nazi Germany,” said Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

Between 1940 and 1945, around 1.1 million men, women and children, were killed in the Polish-based death camp.

The victims were mainly Jews from European countries occupied by the Nazis.

According to Polish sources, 85,000 non-Jewish Poles, 20,000 gypsies, 15,000 Soviets and 12,000 others also perished.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news