Anti-Imperialist Action Poland: Popular commemoration of the Auschwitz liberation 80th anniversary
We have received this report from a group of readers in Poland. You can find other articles on the same topic here and here.
On January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz death camp, where 1.1 million people (mostly Jews, Roma and Sinti from all over Europe, including Poland) were murdered – the gravest of crimes of the Nazi extermination machine of German imperialism.
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the liberation on January 26, 2025, together with: Reds of Małopolska, Socialist Action and the Academy for Palestine, we co-organized a demonstration in Krakow under the slogan “Never Again for Anyone,” it aimed to carry a popular commemoration for the anniversary of this liberation and to remember all victims of the systemic extermination. One of the goals was also to reconquer the memory of Holocaust from its bureaucratic and isolated perspective in the context of the genocide in Gaza and Palestine perpetuated by the terrorist-zionist state, which uses this historical tragedy of our people and ancestors as an ideological weapon to justify its existence. This proved all the more necessary due to the criminal decision of the ruling classes on January 9. It stipulated the full protection of all representatives of the Israeli state (including wanted, war criminals) – who express their willingness to come to the ‘official’ celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the liberation in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
On the day before demonstration: January 25, panels were held where numerous progressive academic scholars, Palestinian activists and anti-Zionist Jewish organizations such as: Judische Stimme, the Black-Jewish Alliance and members of the BDS movement spoke. The demonstration on 26th drew hundreds of participants both locally but also guests from: Germany, UK and Norway, as well as the representatives of Palestinian movement from all over Poland: Warsaw, Katowice, Lublin, Poznań & Toruń.
Dibbuchim carrying a Palestinian martyr (part of the art performance)
The event began at Wolnica Square in the heart of Kazimierz – historically the most important Jewish district in Poland and the oldest such district in Europe. It began with an artistic interpretation of the cultures of mourning and martyrdom in a common Jewish-Palestinian narrative. This was followed by speeches in Polish and English, which covered topics including the role of zionism in the destruction of Jewish cultures, its crimes against the peoples of the Middle East, the nature of imperialism and fascism, and the importance of Palestinian resistance. We left Wolnica Square walking deep into Kazimierz, carried shouts of liberation on our lips as we passed the Wawel Castle marching all the way to the Main Square, raising high the banner “Palestine Fights & Triumphs”! Reaching there after having read more speeches full of hope and a militant spirit, we have ended the demonstration knowing that the people will never surrender the lessons of the Holocaust, to their usurpers.
It is a day that must forever reflect the people’s resistance against their oppressors and their crimes regardless of the farce and profanity carried out by the delegations of modern representatives of imperialism and their lackeys, perpetuated in the ‘official’ commemorations in the extermination camp stained with the blood of our sisters, brothers and ancestors.
Never Again for Nobody !
Long Live the Liberation of Auschwitz, Palestine and humankind !
Palestine Lives, Fights & Triumphs !
