Auschwitz survivors have warned of the rising antisemitism and hatred in the modern world as they gathered with world leaders and European royalty on the 80th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation.

World leaders and a dwindling group of survivors joined in a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp by the Red Army.

January 27, 2025, marks Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. CNN’s Melissa Bell sits down with survivors to speak about the importance of this specific anniversary.

That creates risks: the Holocaust didn’t begin with mass murder. The dehumanization of Jews progressed gradually from public exclusion to eventual internment to finally extermination. Millions of regular Germans—and Europeans more broadly—facilitated or silently accepted these actions.

Survivors of the Nazi's notorious Auschwitz death camp are taking center stage at the memorial service to mark 80 years since its liberation by Soviet troops.

It doesn’t do any good for your heart, for your mind, for anything,” said Holocaust survivor Jona Laks, 94, about her return to Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.