German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been visiting the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, in her first trip to the site while in office. She is taking part in a ceremony alongside a camp survivor and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Her visit comes amid a rise in German anti-Semitism and ahead of the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation. The Nazi regime murdered an estimated 1.1 million people, the vast majority of them Jewish, at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The chancellor was pictured walking through the notorious “Arbeit macht frei” (work sets you free) gates at Auschwitz. She held a minute’s silence at the so-called Black Wall, where thousands of prisoners were executed, before moving to the Birkenau site where she gave a speech.
“Remembering the crimes… is a responsibility which never ends. It belongs inseparably to our country. To be aware of this responsibility is part of our national identity,” Mrs Merkel said.