Ceremony Commemorating Nazi Victims of Forced Labour
Delegations from the countries whose nationals built the Ljubelj/Loiblpass tunnel as German prisoners of war during World War II gathered below the Slovenian-Austrian border pass on Saturday to remember the victims of the branch of the Mauthausen concentration camp there. The ceremony commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp attracted internees and their relatives from France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia as well as many Slovenians.
Mayor of Trzic Borut Sajovic, who addressed the ceremony, said the gathering served as a reminder that the horrors of World War II would never repeat again. He added that the lesson of history had not been learnt properly given the recurrent violence and war in the world.
Representatives of the French delegation underscored at the gathering how little it took for peace to collapse and how much humanity was required to defend democracy and freedom.
Representatives from Italy joined by condemning all kinds of fascism, while Anna Elisabeth Haselbach, the vice-president of the Federal Council of the Austrian Parliament, urged against humiliation, racism, violence and war.
The delegations laid wreaths at the monument bearing the inscription "J'accuse", which was set up to commemorate thousands of suffering and hundreds of those who perished at the concentration camp.
Internees from the Mauthausen concentration camp were brought to the Ljubelj mountain pass by the Nazis to build a tunnel which now connects Slovenia and Austria across the Karavanke mountain ridge. The excavation of the tunnel began in 1943.
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