This afternoon 75 years ago

3 pm on this very day 75 years ago, Russian troops arrived in the concentration and annihilation camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. The remaining prisoners were rescued from being gassed to death by the Nazis. Around 1.3 million people were sent to this camp during WW2 from all over Europe. 1.1 million were killed. Almost 1 million Jews. I joined a touching marking of the day on the spot the German ship Donau sailed out of the Oslo fjord with about 529 Norwegian Jews on November 26th 1942. One of the darkest days in our Norwegian history. All in all 773 Jews was sent from Norway to the camp. 35 of them survived. Many Jews managed to escape to Sweden. The children on the blip from the Jewish society in Oslo told their story of their great grandparents or relatives that had been sent with Donau. Other ones told about their mothers and fathers who had survived the camp. How could that happen? I have visited Auschwitz-Birkenau twice. One time alone, one time with my father. I will invite my sons to follow me a third time to see the camp and learn about it. A touching day remembering the tragic crime against humanity carried out by the Nazis.