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Auschwitz Survivors Mark 70th Anniversary of Camp’s Liberation

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Auschwitz survivor Miroslaw Celka walks out the gate with the sign saying "Work makes you free" after paying tribute to fallen comrades at the "death wall" execution spot in the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on Jan. 27, 2015.
Auschwitz survivor Miroslaw Celka walks out the gate with the sign saying "Work makes you free" after paying tribute to fallen comrades at the "death wall" execution spot in the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on Jan. 27, 2015.Odd Andersen—AFP/Getty Images
By TIME Photo and Maya Rhodan

Correction appended

Hundreds of survivors returned to the Holocaust’s most infamous concentration camp, Auschwitz, to mark the 70th anniversary of the camp’s liberation for what’s expected to be the last time.

World leaders, including the presidents of Germany and France, joined about 300 survivors at a commemorative event at the Polish site on Tuesday, the BBC reports. About 1,500 survivors returned in 2005; many of the remaining survivors, now elderly, were children and teens when they were held in Auschwitz.

French President Francois Hollande’s presence at the event comes in the wake of terror attacks in Paris, including an attack at a Jewish supermarket. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend Tuesday’s commemoration, though the Soviet army was responsible for liberating the camp in 1945.

The site opened as a museum just two years later, in 1947.

[BBC]

Correction: The original version of this story has been updated to clarify the location of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp

Auschwitz survivor Miroslaw Celka walks out the gate with the sign saying "Work makes you free" after paying tribute to fallen comrades at the "death wall" execution spot in the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on Jan. 27, 2015.
Auschwitz survivor Miroslaw Celka walks out the gate with the sign saying "Work makes you free" after paying tribute to fallen comrades at the "death wall" execution spot in the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on Jan. 27, 2015. Odd Andersen—AFP/Getty Images
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Auschwitz survivors lay down a wreath at the death wall of the former Auschwitz concentration camp on Jan. 27, 2015 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site in Oswiecim.
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Auschwitz survivors lay down a wreath at the death wall of the former Auschwitz concentration camp on Jan. 27, 2015 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site in Oswiecim.Odd Andersen—AFP/Getty Images
Holocaust survivors pay tribute to fallen comrades at the "death wall" execution spot in the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on Jan. 27, 2015.
Holocaust survivors pay tribute to fallen comrades at the "death wall" execution spot in the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on Jan. 27, 2015. Odd Andersen—AFP/Getty Images
Survivors laying wreaths at the Wall of Death during the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, 2015.
Survivors laying wreaths at the Wall of Death during the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, 2015.Adam Jagielak—Getty Images
A Holocaust survivor wears a prisoner armband at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Jan. 27, 2015.
A Holocaust survivor wears a prisoner armband at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Jan. 27, 2015. Czarek Sokolowski—AP
A Holocaust survivor wipes her eye while standing along with others outside a detention block of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Jan. 27, 2015.
A Holocaust survivor wipes her eye while standing along with others outside a detention block of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Jan. 27, 2015. Alik Keplicz—AP
The wall of death prior to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi-German concentration and extermination camp KL Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Jan. 27, 2015.
The wall of death prior to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi-German concentration and extermination camp KL Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Jan. 27, 2015. Rolf Vennenbernd—dpa/Corbis

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