WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Vice President Dick Cheney will represent the United States at ceremonies marking the World War II liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkinau death camps.
The White House said Monday in addition to attending the official commemoration ceremonies in Poland on Jan. 27, Cheney and his wife would participate in an event honoring survivors of the Holocaust who are now U.S. citizens, deliver remarks to an international forum and tour Auschwitz, the major Nazi German death camp where millions of Jews and others were killed.
Cheney would later hold bilateral discussions with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Auschwitz has become a symbol of Nazi genocide. It was established in 1940 after the German occupation of Poland and became the main receiving point for Jews and others deported from Germany and conquered territories. Birkinau, its sister camp, was the main site for its gas chambers.
