International Monument to the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau

On April 16, 1967, the International Monument to the Camp Victims was unveiled at the site of the former German KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It commemorates at least 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, but also Poles, Roma and people of other nationalities who were killed in the camp by the Germans.
The monument unveiling ceremony gathered 200,000 people on April 16, 1967. people. Among them was the then prime minister of the Polish People's Republic and former Auschwitz prisoner Józef Cyrankiewicz and the Soviet general Vasily Pietrenko, one of the commanders of the Red Army units, which liberated the camp in January 1945.
“Let us pay tribute to all those murdered here, building, according to our strength and skills, a new life of free, coexisting nations, in order to remove this shame from humanity, which was what happened in Oświęcim. To never again! Only then will it be a monument not only to memory, warning and vigilance, but also to the reconciliation of people and nations who follow the same path to the same goals, ”said Cyrankiewicz, whose words were recorded by the camera of the Polish Film Chronicle.
The unveiling of the Monument was accompanied by the premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's "Dies Irae" oratorio. The creator dedicated them to the memory of the camp's victims. The Latin title of the composition, translated into Polish, is: Dzień Gniewu. When creating his work, Penderecki relied on excerpts from the Bible, contemporary Polish and French poetry, and excerpts from Aeschylus's "Oresteja".
The monument was unveiled by the chairman of the Council for the Protection of Monuments to Struggle and Martyrdom, Janusz Wieczorek. At the foot of the monument, Józef Cyrankiewicz placed the first class insignia of the Grunwald Cross, which were posthumously awarded to the victims of Auschwitz.
The unveiling of the Monument was accompanied by the premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's "Dies Irae" oratorio. The creator dedicated them to the memory of the camp's victims. The Latin title of the composition, translated into Polish, is: Dzień Gniewu. When creating his work, Penderecki relied on excerpts from the Bible, contemporary Polish and French poetry, and excerpts from Aeschylus's "Oresteja". The oratory premiered on April 16, 1967 at the Krakow Philharmonic.
Currently, the Monument is a place where world leaders visiting the Memorial pay tribute to the victims. Among them were, among others three subsequent popes: John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.
auschwitz.org/galeria/miejsce-pamieci/miedzynarodowy-pomnik-ofiar-obozu

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