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Third Place
Massimo Mastrorillo Freelance
"Oswiecim 60 years later"
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Summary:
Between 1940 and 1945, the Nazis ocupied the polish
town of Oswiecim, establishing the concentration and extermination camp of
Auschwitz. On january 27, 1945 soldiers of the Ukrainian Army found 5000
gravely ill prisoners inside the Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp. The general number
of Auschwitz victims between the years of 1940-1945 is estimated at 1,5
million victims of 29 nationalities. Among them there were about 1,1 million
Jews. From 1947 the lands of the former concentration camp in the city of
Oswiecim were preserved as a monument to martyrdom. This museum is daily
visited by thousands of people. Before the war the 60 % of the total
population was jewish. There were 13 synagogues. After the war only 70 jews
returned to the city. The last jew died in 2000. Today, the 40.000 residents
city of Oswiecim is a economically depressed city living with the heavy
memory of the atrocities committed inside the camps. In 1998 it received the
title of Messenger of Peace by the UN Secretary General. Nevertheless the
percentage of tourists visiting the city after the camps is really low.
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