Polish President Andrzej Duda (2-L) with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda (L) and US Vice-President Mike Pence (2-R) with his wife Karen Pence (R) visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz, in Oswiecim, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA
Warsaw, Poland – US Vice President Pence Makes His 1st Visit To Auschwitz (Photos)
Warsaw, Poland – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the memorial site of Auschwitz on Friday along with the Polish president.
It was the first visit for Pence, a conservative Christian, to the site where German forces murdered 1.1 million people, most of them Jews but also Poles, Roma and others, during the Nazis’ occupation of Eastern Europe during World War II.
Pence and his wife were joined by Polish President Andrzej Duda and the Polish first lady, Agata Kornhauser-Duda.
They began their visit by walking under the notorious gate with the German words “Arbeit Macht Frei,” the Nazi slogan meaning “Work sets you free.”
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There, they paused and turned toward reporters, who took their photos.
They then made their way to the Death Wall in a yard where prisoners were executed. Many of those shot there were Poles who were part of the underground resistance against the German occupation.
The two couples walked side-by-side to the wall and bowed their heads before it.
They moved to the nearby satellite camp of Birkenau, the site of the murder of Jews from across Europe. There they stood silently before a historic cattle car on the train tracks that were used to bring Jews to their deaths there.
Vice President Mike Pence with his wife Karen visit the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau, near Oswiecim, Poland, February 15, 2019.
The vast Auschwitz complex, which is today a state museum, also includes surviving barracks and watchtowers as well as the ruins of gas chambers and crematoria where the Nazis murdered people and burned their bodies.
The visit comes a day after Pence also visited commemorating the suffering of the Jewish and Polish people in Warsaw during the war.
It also comes a day after Pence accused Britain, France, Germany and the European Union as a whole of trying to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and called on the EU to join the Trump administration in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
In his speech, Pence said that “the Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust.”
Pence is on a four-day visit to Europe that included meeting with Polish soldiers and American troops in Poland and a conference on the Middle East that concluded Thursday. His next and final stop will be to the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, left, walk with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, during their visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Credit: AP)
epa07372255 Polish President Andrzej Duda (2-R) with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda (R), US Vice-President Mike Pence (front) with his wife Karen Pence (3-R), Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich (2-L), White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner (3-L) and Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Piotr Cywinski (4-L) visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in Brzezinka, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA-EFE/Andrzej Grygiel POLAND OUT (Credit: EPA-EFE)
epa07371850 Polish President Andrzej Duda (2-L) with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda (L), US Vice-President Mike Pence (C) with his wife Karen Pence (2-R) and Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Piotr Cywinski (R) visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz, in Oswiecim, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA-EFE/Andrzej Grygiel POLAND OUT (Credit: EPA-EFE)
epa07372146 Polish President Andrzej Duda (C) with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda (5-L), US Vice-President Mike Pence (3-L) with his wife Karen Pence (2-L) and Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Piotr Cywinski (R) visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in Brzezince, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA-EFE/Andrzej Grygiel POLAND OUT (Credit: EPA-EFE)
epa07372199 Polish President Andrzej Duda (back-R) with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda (R) and US Vice-President Mike Pence (L) with his wife Karen Pence (R) visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in Brzezinka, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA-EFE/Andrzej Grygiel POLAND OUT (Credit: EPA-EFE)
epa07372200 Polish President Andrzej Duda (2-R) with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda (R) and US Vice-President Mike Pence (2-L) with his wife Karen Pence (L) visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in Brzezinka, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA-EFE/Andrzej Grygiel POLAND OUT (Credit: EPA-EFE
epa07371811 Polish President Andrzej Duda (3-R) with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda (2-R) and US Vice-President Mike Pence (3-L) visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz, in Oswiecim, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA-EFE/JACEK BEDANRCZYK POLAND OUT (Credit: EPA-EFE)
epa07372035 (L-R) Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, president of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner at the Death Wall during their visit the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz, in Oswiecim, southern Poland, 15 February 2019. EPA-EFE/Andrzej Grygiel POLAND OUT (Credit: EPA-EFE)
