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Thousands take part in "March of the Living" in former Auschwitz concentration camp

Xinhua, May 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Thousands of people, including the young Jews from around the world and their Polish peers, took part in Thursday's March of the Living at the site of the former Nazi German concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland.

The annual event was held in memory of the Holocaust victims.

The march went along a three km route and started from the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" (Work makes you free) gate.

This year's March coincided with the 80th anniversary of the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws introduced by the Reichstag and the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals.

The March originated in 1988 as an educational project, soon becoming an annual event. Although the project was aimed at Jewish youth from around the world, a large group of politicians participated in the event in recent years, including Polish, Israeli and Hungarian presidents and prime ministers.

The Auschwitz camp was founded in 1940. More than 1,1 million people were killed at the camp, mostly European Jews. Endit