The Camp. Interviews by Magda Łucyan

The Camp. Interviews by Magda Łucyan

"Do not be indifferent". Auschwitz survivor Marian Turski delivers powerful address

"Do not be indifferent in the face of historical lies. Do not be indifferent when you see the past being exploited for the needs of contemporary politics. Do not be indifferent when any minority suffers discrimination. For it's the essence of democracy that the majority wields the power, but at the same time, the rights of the minority must be respected," former prisoner of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp, Marian Turski, said on Monday during the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation. He stressed that indifference may cause "an Auschwitz suddenly fall down on you from the skies". Mr Turski also urged younger generations not to "be indifferent when any government violates the already established social contracts".

"Only unity can save the world from new suffering"

The presidents of Poland and Ukraine called on Monday (January 27) for greater global efforts to combat anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia as the world marked 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp amid concerns over a resurgence of anti-Jewish prejudice.

Zofia Posmysz. "They better pray for themselves. Today the Jews, tomorrow you"

"When a prison guard told us to get ready because we would be transferred to Auschwitz, I had no idea what this place was; I couldn’t have possibly imagined such thing. I remember that I even heaved a sigh of relief because I thought that the interrogations would be over. It couldn’t have got any worse, could it?", said Zofia Posmysz in a conversation with Magda Łucyan, a reporter from "Fakty" TVN.

Stanisław Zalewski. "Death was commonplace"

"We weren’t just numbers. They only labelled us with numbers, but we remained human. As a matter of fact, they did strip us of our humanity, but that was only later during our stay in the camp," said Stanisław Zalewski in a conversation with Magda Łucyan, a reporter from "Fakty" TVN.

Walentyna Nikodem. "Women would drown in feces. Some of them were so weak that it was impossible to take them out"

"They told us to strip naked and rushed us behind this male 'lagier' (male section of the camp). It was horrible. All women, those 80-year-old and 15-year-old children. There were those barbers who would remove all hair from our bodies. Such humiliation, such cries, such screams. I started to cry. It was other prisoners who did the haircuts and one of them said: "Don’t cry child, let them be ashamed of what they are doing"", said Walentyna Nikodem in a conversation with Magda Łucyan, a reporter from "Fakty" TVN.

Łucja Janosz. "Those were only bones, as rats ate the rest"

"I was prepared to die, what choice did I have? Each night I had nightmares in which I saw my mother and father, all of us walking along and them selecting us. Once I dreamt that an SS officer, my nerves were getting the better of me, he just stood there killing me with gas. I was all alone in the chamber. But the gas wasn’t coming out from above but was just flowing right at me," Łucja Janosz said in conversation with Magda Łucyan, a reporter from "Fakty" TVN.

Bronisława (Niusia) Horowitz-Karakulska. "I was sent to the crematorium twice"

"Auschwitz was a one big macabre. It was something indescribable. People were screaming, they were afraid, they were anxious. People were praying, crying, reaching out to heavens asking: 'Lord, you sit up there and you don’t see what’s happening down here? You can’t save anyone?' Everyone prayed in their own way," said Bronisława (Niusia) Horowitz-Karakulska in conversation with Magda Łucyan, a reporter from "Fakty" TVN.

Bogdan Bartnikowski."Water! Relief. Not our turn yet. We will still make it back to the barracks today"

"On the 9th of August (1944) I was still taking part in the Warsaw Uprising, and already on the night between the 11th and 12th of August, I was a prisoner of Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. No more than two days before that, I had a normal life. I had a mother and a father. All of the sudden, I was all alone," Bogdan Bartnikowski said in a conversation with Magda Łucyan, a reporter from "Fakty" TVN.