Earlier on Monday, survivors of the camp from Poland walked through the camp's gate with Mr Duda wearing striped scarves that recalled the uniforms they had worn as prisoners there.
Survivors of the camp also spoke. Batsheva Dagan told how, as a small child, they could not find a striped uniform for her, and that she had to wear a tallit round her legs.
"Even if you opened a dictionary, you would not find a word that would describe how human dignity was trampled," she said.
"Maybe that I would like to cry, because only with tears can I tell you about this past. I can see so many people here.
"You are a source of comfort to us. I hope you will preserve the memory of this place… I hope that you will make sure, you will bear this responsibility, so that this terrible thing will never happen again."
Marian Turski, who was born in Lodz in Poland and deported to Auschwitz in 1944, warned: "Do not be indifferent when you see lies, historical lies. Do not be indifferent when you see that the past is stretched to fit the current political needs.
"Do not be indifferent when any minority is discriminated against."
Stanisław Zalewski, who was arrested by the Nazis for his underground activity aged 18, said: "If we open our hearts, you will hear their cries, their moans and complaints to God.
"In a place such as this, words fail and the heart cries out to God in this dreadful silence. Lord, why did you remain silent?"
Elza Baker, who is of Roma and Sinti descent, was deported to Auschwitz from Hamburg aged eight.
She spoke of the treatment of her minority as well as Jews. "Even today, it is extremely difficult for me to come back to the place of the former concentration camp Auschwitz," she said.
"I experienced first-hand the effect of anti-Gypsyism, antisemitism and racism. I myself survived Auschwitz through sheer luck and a selfless act of some of my inmates."
Joining them were dignitaries from around the world, including Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and US Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin.
In his speech, Mr Lauder said: “I am here simply as a Jew, and like Jews everywhere this place, this terrible place called Auschwitz has sadly become an inseparable part of all of us. Auschwitz is like a terrible scar from a terrible trauma; it never goes away and the pain never stopped.”
He added: “Now I see something I never thought I would see in my lifetime: the open and brazen spread of anti-Jewish hatred throughout the world once again. In 2020, we hear the same lies the Nazis used so effectively in their propaganda.”
He told the story of a survivor who was separated from his family, telling the crowd: "The man watched watched his young daughter, in a red coat, walk to her death, turning into a small red dot in the distance before disappearing forever.
"Do not ever let this happen again to any people."
Speaking before the event, Mr Cywinski said the he was “deeply moved by the support of people from all around the world, who – together with us – commemorate the victims of Auschwitz.”
