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French president visits former concentration camp

(Xinhua) Updated: 2015-04-27 10:26

French president visits former concentration camp

French President Francois Hollande (2ndL) walks with a Holocaust survivor during ceremonies to mark the French National Deportation Day at the Natzweiler-Struthof World War II concentration camp, in Natzweiler, eastern France, April 26, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

STRASBOURG - "Evil has not disappeared, it has taken on new colors," declared French President Francois Hollande during a commemorative visit Sunday to the former concentration camp of Natzweiler-Struthof.

"The worst can always happen, it is in knowing it that we can avoid it," the president proclaimed. "We must not forget anything. "

President Hollande's visit to the camp near the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (50km southwest of Strasbourg), the only one built by the Nazis on the territory of modern-day France, was part of a ceremony of commemoration for the 70th anniversary of its liberation, as well as the French National day of remembrance for victims of deportation.

Hollande was accompanied by the Prime Minister of Latvia Laimdota Straujuma, the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland.

Latvia currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Together, the leaders unveiled two commemorative plaques listing the names of 86 Jewish victims who had been killed in August 1943 in order to furnish a skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg, as well as Roma victims who were killed for their ethnicity.

"I wanted that this ceremony of the plaques for the victims of this atrocity would be a European ceremony, because what happened here were horrible crimes, which occurred in Europe and were European deeds," President Hollande said.

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