AUSCHWITZ, Poland – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Auschwitz-Birkenau Sunday where he quietly toured the grounds alongside 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Nate Leipciger of Toronto, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion, and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland.
According to officials, Trudeau, the third sitting prime minister to visit Auschwitz after Jean Chretien and Stephen Harper, had personally requested the tour.
Trudeau, standing at the sight of where over one million (mostly Jews) were killed in the gas chambers, used the opportunity to condemn bigotry and intolerance, lauding the importance of love, unity and togetherness. At one point, as they stood in a darkened room displaying a mound of victims’ hair, the Canadian PM broke down in tears after Leipciger recalled memories of his mother and sister, both of whom were murdered by the Nazis some 70 years ago.
The Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau @JustinTrudeau visited the @AuschwitzMuseum today. pic.twitter.com/WEG1n0KVzC
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) July 10, 2016
“This is the most difficult for me,” Leipciger, who arrived at the camp at age 11, told him. “Maybe my mother’s and sister’s locks are in there.”
While the Canadian PM remained mostly silent as he walked through the camp grounds, he did leave a message in the guest book kept by the Auschwitz-Birkeneau State Museum, reports the Canadian Press.
“Tolerance is never sufficient,” he wrote. “Humanity must learn to love our differences.
“Today we bear witness to humanity’s capacity for deliberate cruelty and evil. May we ever remember this painful truth about ourselves, and may it strengthen our commitment to never allow such darkness to prevail.
“We shall never forget.”
The inscription by Prime Minister of Canada @JustinTrudeau in the Memorial Book of @AuschwitzMuseum pic.twitter.com/3IHfRxxQul
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) July 10, 2016
The Canadian PM and Leipciger also laid a wreath on behalf of Canada at a wall where Nazis executed inmates. The two were about to shake hands before they embraced with a hug, before Leipciger kissed him on the cheek.
Trudeau, who had attended the NATO summit in Warsaw earlier this weekend, is off to Ukraine next.
