Poland excluded Russia from commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of the Nazi death camp against the background of the invasion of Ukraine

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum announced Wednesday that it won’t invite representatives of Russia to participate in the commemoration of the 78th anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of the Nazi death camp, against the background of the invasion of Ukraine.

“In view of the attack on a free and independent Ukraine, representatives of the Russian Federation were not invited to participate in the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz this year,” museum spokesman Pyotr Sawicki told AFP.

Russia has always participated in the festivities held annually on January 27, with a representative speaking about it at the main ceremony.

“We’ve a long way to go, and Russia will need a very long time after this conflict to return to the forums of the civilized world,” the museum director Piotr Cywinski said.

Coinciding with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the museum described the attack as a barbaric act.

“This barbaric act will be judged by history, and its perpetrators, we hope by the International Court of Justice,” he said on Twitter.

Built in occupied Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau is a symbol of Nazi Germany’s extermination of six million European Jews, one million of whom died in the camp between 1940 and 1945, along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.

The Red Army liberated the camp on January 27, 1945.