President Patil pays homage to the victims of the Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz (Poland), April 26: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil here on Sunday paid homage to the victims of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where at Nazi forces killed least 1.1 million Jews during World War II.

On visit to the concentration camps, put up by Nazi Germany during World War II, President Patil described it as human misery and height of cruelty.

Patil said that this is an example of the victory of humanity over human misery despite the killing of so many people here, as ultimately a day arrived when they were liberated.

"There is no solution to any problem through such methods. Problem should be and can resolved through discussion and through sitting together," Patil said.

She said the Mahatma Gandhi's message (of non-violence) not just holds relevance for India but also rest of the world.

While writing in the visitors' book, Patil stated: "In a place like this, words fail. My head bows in prayers for the peace of souls of (those) countless men and women, old and young alike and the children who were tortured with hard labour and then gassed to death at these Camps. May this be a chilling reminder that such crimes of genocide shall never go unpunished."

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of Nazi Germany's concentration camps where Jews were killed in gas chambers, by systematic starvation, forced labour and executions.

President Patil is on a week-long visit to Spain and Poland. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)