The commemoration of 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Nazi death camp was attended by leaders from 30 countries. The leaders were greeted in a morning Holocaust forum by Maj. Anatoly Shapiro, commander of the Soviet unit that freed the camp.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav pointed out that the site was now located in the EU. "Auschwitz must be placed in the central place of collective memory of the reunited Europe," Katsav said.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney reminded that the Holocaust occurred "in the heart of the civilized world" and added that "the story of the camps shows that evil is real and must be called by its name and must be confronted."

Ukraine’s new leader Viktor Yushchenko talked about the ordeal experienced by his father, a Soviet prisoner of war who was captured and placed in Auschwitz.

"This is a sacred place for me and my family. This is a place where Andrei Yushchenko, my father, suffered.
"There will never be a Jewish question in my country, I vow that," he said.

The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, who was representing the Soviet troops that liberated the Nazi camp spoke about the necessity to avoid any compromise with terrorists. He said the Holocaust demonstrated that just "as there were no ’good’ and ’bad’ fascists, there cannot be ’good’ and ’bad’ terrorists."

"We shall not only remember the past but also be aware of all the threats of the modern world," he said. "Terrorism is among them and it is no less dangerous and cunning than fascism."

The occasion was used by many speakers to remind of the need to fight any demonstrations of Anti-Semitism.