Belgium to mark anniversary of Auschwitz liberation

11 January 2005

BRUSSELS – Belgium is to commemorate the Nazi genocide of Jews on 27 January, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

More than one million people were murdered in the camp in southern Poland before it was liberated by the Red Army.

At the request of Belgium’s Jewish community, the government announced 27 January would be “a day commemorating the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany.”

The camp has become the symbol of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime’s genocide of European Jews.

Between 1940 and 1945, one million men, women and children from 20 countries were killed in horrific circumstances within the camp’s walls.

Meanwhile, a 1995 law making holocaust denial illegal is due to be extended to cover other crimes of genocide recognised by the international tribunal.

The change in the law will form part of a legal package to tackle racism on the internet.

Subject: Belgian news