Merkel opens Holocaust art exhibition in Berlin

“This exhibition allows a rare encounter, especially in Berlin, between today’s viewer and the person who experienced the events of the Holocaust. Each work is a testimony to the Holocaust period and a statement of the human spirit that refuses to give in,” said Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Wednesday, also marked the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The former death camp last year had a record 1.72 million visitors.

Piotr Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, said: “The increasing number of visitors is mainly due to the fact that Auschwitz-Birkenau has become the most significant symbol of the Holocaust. It is the most preserved camp.

“People know that in order to understand the post-war period, they should first understand what happened here.”