Muslim leaders join children of survivors at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Muslim leaders knelt in prayer at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Krakow on Thursday during a visit to the former German Nazi death camp with children of survivors.

The group of 62 Muslims and 25 prominent religious leaders from 28 countries was the most senior delegation of its kind to ever visit the site of a Nazi German death camp, according to organisers.

The tour was led by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Muslim World League (MWL) ahead of the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Flying in from the US were members of the AJC, including several children of survivors.

Members of both delegations placed candles at the site’s international monument, erected in 1967 to commemorate the more than 1.1 million victims, most of them Jews, murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Footage widely shared online shows delegates kneeling in prayer next to the monument.

Speaking at the memorial, the MWL’s general secretary Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa said: “To be here, among the children of Holocaust survivors and members of the Jewish and Islamic communities, is both a sacred duty and a profound honour.

“The unconscionable crimes to which we bear witness today are truly crimes against humanity. That is to say, a violation of us all, an affront to all of God’s children.”