Archbishop and Chief Rabbi in joint visit to Auschwitz

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks are to visit the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Thursday.

Dr Williams has invited representatives of the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and other faiths to take part in the visit, intended as a mark of solidarity against the extremes of hostility and genocide that the notorious concentration camp has come to embody.

The visit, the Archbishop's first, is taking place at the invitation of the Holocaust Education Trust as part of its Lessons from Auschwitz project. The project has taken thousands of students on visits to the concentration camp since its inception 10 years ago. The Trust will take a group of 200 students on Thursday's visit.

"Auschwitz, as many have said, reduces us to silence. But to say this and no more is to shy away from the challenge it poses," said Dr Williams.

"If we are truly committed to hearing and learning, we have no choice but to seek to grow in our ability to identify where these are present today.

"Our hope is that in making this journey together we also travel towards the God who binds us together in protest and grief at this profanation."

The Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, commented: "The Holocaust did not happen far away, in some distant time and in another kind of civilisation.

"It happened in the heart of enlightened Europe in a country that prided itself on its art, its culture, its philosophy and ethics.

"However painful it is, we must learn what happened, that it may never happen again to anyone, whatever their colour, culture or creed.

"We cannot change the past, but by remembering the past, we can change the future."

The faith leaders will visit to Osweicim, the Polish town where the concentration camp was situated and where prior to the war, 58 per cent of the population was Jewish. They will continue on from there to Auschwitz I to see the former camp's barracks and crematoria, as well as piles of belongings that were seized from the trainloads of Jews on their arrival to the camp.

The group will later visit Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II, where they will join in a candle lighting ceremony and hear reflective readings from Dr Williams and Dr Sacks, and the students, to remember the millions of Holocaust victims.

Following their visit, the students will use what they have learned to help educate people in their schools and local communities about the Holocaust.

Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: "The Lessons from Auschwitz Project is an integral part of the Holocaust Educational Trust's work as it gives participants the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the dangers and potential effects of prejudice and racism today.

"We are pleased that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi, together with representatives from the UK's major faiths, are joining us on this visit to demonstrate the importance of Holocaust remembrance and of joining together to stand up against discrimination in whatever form it may materialise."