Why is the Topf & Sons – Builders of the Auschwitz Ovens – Place of Remembrance important to you?
Because it was here that the engineers made the plans
to organize the extermination programme
so that it would be even faster and even more thorough.
And that was an important prerequisite
for the mass murder
of six million Jews and 500,000 Sinti and Roma.
This Place of Remembrance is especially important for future generations
to take a stand for
what has brought us seventy years of peace: democracy.
We have to regard this as our joint responsibility
towards our children’s future.
Today, it’s no longer about passing on the blame
to the grandchildren or great-grandchildren;
it’s about taking joint responsibility for the future
against the background of the experience of history.
The Nazis not only murdered six million Jews and 500,000 Sinti and Roma;
they also plunged Europe,
and in particular Germany, into ruin.
And together we must ensure that that can no longer happen.