"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".
Marian Turski was born on June 26th, 1926 in Druskininkai, as Mosze Turbowicz in a family of Polish Jews. During the WWII he and his family were taken to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto (in Łódź). Some members of his family were later taken to Auschwitz. Marian Turski was to a certain extent protected by friends from an underground left wing unionist organisation he was a member of. He was deported only in August of 1944, in one of the last transports to Auschwitz from the Łódź Ghetto.
In January, 1945, Marian Turski survived death march to Buchenwald, and in April, when American troops were approaching, a second march to Theresienstadt (Terezin). There, suffering from typhus, he was liberated by the Soviet army.
After the war, Mr Turski lived in Warsaw. From 1945 he was an active member of the Polish Workers' Party youth organisation, and later he worked in the Polish United Workers' Party press office. Since 1958, he's been the chief editor of the history department of "Polityka" weekly.
Marian Turski is an active member of the Jewish Historical Institute, the Association of Jewish Veterans and Victims of the World War Two, as well as the International Auschwitz Committee. In 1997, Marian Turski was decorated with the Order of Polonia Restituta, whereas in 2007 he received the Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany - for his contribution to Polish-German relations.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English