Germany remembers the Holocaust.
Leaders gathered at the country's parliament building on Friday for a ceremony to commemorate the millions of Jews who died under the Nazi regime.
Among the speakers was 91-year-old Marcel Reich-Ranicki.
He survived the infamous Warsaw ghetto, a holding area from where Jews were sent to the Nazi death camps.
(SOUNDBITE)(German) PUBLICIST AND HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR MARCEL REICH-RANICKI, SAYING:
"The re-location from Warsaw only had one goal, only had one purpose: death."
Meanwhile, the UN also marked Holocaust Remembrance Day in a ceremony that included a message from secretary general Ban Ki-Moon.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) BAN KI-MOON, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UN, SAYING:
"Today, as we remember all those lost during the Holocaust, young and old alike I call on all nations to protect the most vulnerable regardless of race, color, gender or religious belief. Children are uniquely vulnerable to the worst of human kind. We must assure them the best this world has to offer."
International Holocaust Remembrance Day commorates the date in 1945 when Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Andrew Raven, Reuters
