Schulz bij Auschwitz-Birkenau: "'We moeten dit nooit, nooit vergeten"

EP president Martin Schulz paid tribute to the victims of German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau during a visit on 20 April. "The visit to Nazi German death camp Auschwitz changes you. It changed me," he said. "There are no words to describe the enormity of this crime. We must never, ever forget." During his first official visit to Poland, Mr Schulz also took part in the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising and met with Polish politicians.

Mr Schulz visited the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau where he laid wreaths at the Death Wall, in front of which Nazis shot thousands of prisoners, and at the monument in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau area.

"It is clear to me, that everyone who visits this place leaves it completely changed. It is necessary to come here to realise how deeply our civilisation once fell," he said. "Seeing stored children's shoes, glasses or human hair, changes every human being. It is why, in its entire horror, it is such an important place."

Mr Schulz also met the Polish president and senior representatives of the parliament and government on 18 and 19 April to discuss among others the EU budget. "Our common goal: to reach a reasonable compromise," Mr Schulz said after meeting Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.