Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks through the main gate with Auschwitz survivor Nate Leipciger, right, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and the Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Dr. Piotr Cywinski, left, as he begins a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Auschwitz, Poland on Sunday.
Trudeau and Leipciger, left, listen to Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Dr. Piotr Cywinski as he speaks about the gas chamber they are standing in during the tour.
Trudeau in tears at Auschwitz concentration camp with Canadian survivor
The prime minister spent nearly three hours walking through the camp without saying much. He was escorted by one of the camp’s survivors, an 88-year-old now of Toronto.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks through the main gate with Auschwitz survivor Nate Leipciger, right, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and the Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Dr. Piotr Cywinski, left, as he begins a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Auschwitz, Poland on Sunday.
KYIV, UKRAINE—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Ukraine after an emotional visit Sunday to the scene of one of the worst chapters in human history, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where he warned against intolerance and offered a message of love.
The blue skies and sunshine on Sunday were a sharp contrast to the history of the place as Trudeau walked past barbed wire fences and surveyed the gas chambers where more than one million people, mostly Jews, were killed in the Second World War.
Trudeau was stone-faced through most of the visit as he was escorted by one of the camp’s survivors, 88-year-old Nate Leipciger, now of Toronto. But the prime minister couldn’t hold back the tears as he stood before the ruined gas chamber where Leipciger’s mother and sister were killed 70 years ago.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The text Trudeau wrote in a book of remembrance after touring the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The prime minister, who officials say requested the tour, didn’t say much during the nearly three hours he spent walking through the camp. But he did leave a message in a guest book kept by the Auschwitz-Birkeneau State Museum.
“Tolerance is never sufficient,” he wrote. “Humanity must learn to love our differences.
“Today we bear witness to humanity’s capacity for deliberate cruelty and evil. May we ever remember this painful truth about ourselves, and may it strengthen our commitment to never allow such darkness to prevail.
“We shall never forget.”
In an interview afterward, Leipciger, who has served on different Holocaust remembrance committees in Canada, said he didn’t think he would survive Auschwitz, let alone show a Canadian prime minister around the concentration camp.
“There was no way that I had any future,” he said. “My future was zero. And I’m coming back 73 years later with the prime minister of a wonderful Canada. An articulate, new leader who is taking the country into a new direction.”
Leipciger said that he tried to convey to Trudeau “the tragedy of what men did to men, the hatred which drove on group of people to murder another.”
Trudeau stands infront of the Wall of Death after laying a wreath during the tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Such hatred continues to exist in the world today, he said, with minorities still being discriminated against and murdered.
Trudeau hugs Leipciger beside the remains of a destroyed gas chamber at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Leipciger said Trudeau received his message to remember the past while working for a better future.
Trudeau and Leipciger, left, listen to Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Dr. Piotr Cywinski as he speaks about the gas chamber they are standing in during the tour.
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
“He cried with me,” he said. “He shed tears with me. That’s the greatest expression of understanding and feelings that he could have done to me.”
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Trudeau is the third sitting prime minister to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, after Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper. The stop came between this weekend’s NATO summit in nearby Warsaw and a trip to Ukraine, where Trudeau will spend the next few days.
The prime minister remained stoic through most of the visit as Leipciger recalled his experience at the camp, where he arrived in 1943 as an 11-year-old. One stop was in a darkened room where a mound of hair was on display: locks from women and girls killed by the Nazis.
“This is the most difficult for me,” Leipciger told the prime minister. “Maybe my mother’s and sister’s locks are in there.”
Trudeau was visibly affected on several occasions. At one point, he laid a wreath on behalf of Canada at a wall where the Nazis shot hundreds of prisoners. After pausing for a moment of silence, he went to shake Leipciger’s hand but instead ended up hugging him before Leipciger kissed him on the cheek.
The prime minister also looked shaken as he walked through an intact gas chamber, which still bore fingernail marks on the cement walls where desperate prisoners tried to escape before they died.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
But it was while standing before the gas chamber where Leipciger’s mother and sister were killed, as Rabbi Adam Scheier from Montreal prayed, that Trudeau was forced to pull out tissue and wipe away tears. He also shared a few personal words with Leipciger and Scheier.
Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who accompanied the prime minister, also wiped away tears at different points.
David J. Cape, chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said Trudeau showed “great sensitivity” during his visit.
“As Canadians, we must do more than remember — we must continue to care for the Holocaust survivors among us, speak out against anti-Semitism and hatred in all of its forms, and call for effective action to prevent genocide in our own time,” he said in a statement.
After visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, Trudeau flew to Ukraine where he was to express Canada’s solidarity with the country and sign a free trade agreement. Trudeau spent Friday and Saturday in Warsaw, Poland, attending the NATO leaders’ summit. He returns to Canada following the six-day trip on Tuesday.
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free).
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free).
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation