VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2020) The Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp, which was located in northern Austria, reminds the nation about its historical responsibility to the victims of World War II even 75 years after its liberation, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Tuesday.
"The Mauthausen concentration camp reminds us of where hatred and inhumanity can lead 75 years after its liberation. We bare historical responsibility before 100,000 people, mainly our Jewish compatriots, who were victims of the terrible Nazi terror regime," Kurz said.
Earlier in the day, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen laid a wreath to honor the victims' memory at the site.
"The Federal President visited the Mauthausen concentration camp today, on the 75th anniversary of its liberation by the US troops to lay down a wreath in the silent memory of the victims," Van der Bellen's Facebook post read.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Austrian Mauthausen Committee, Willi Mernyi, urged the authorities to stop ignoring the facts of the desecration of memorials to victims of Nazi Germany, as the public had the right to know the truth.
According to Sabine Schatz, an Austrian lawmaker, who asked the Interior Ministry for the data, there have been 107 cases of desecration of memorials to victims of Nazism, and 22 of those occurred at the Mauthausen camp memorial.
US forces liberated the Mauthausen camp on May 5, 1945, and the camp was transferred to Soviet Union's occupation zone two days later.
The ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation is scheduled for May 10, but will take place in an online format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
