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Berlin (dpa) – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas travels to Poland on Monday to make his first visit as top diplomat to Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp where more than 1 million people were murdered during World War II.<\/p>\nBerlin (dpa) – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas travels to Poland on Monday to make his first visit as top diplomat to Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp where more than 1 million people were murdered during World War II.<\/p>\n
\u00abFor me, Auschwitz is the perpetual reminder to defend the sacrosanct dignity of humanity worldwide,\u00bb Maas, a member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, said shortly before his departure.<\/p>\n
During the visit – his second to Poland – Maas is expected to meet his counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz at a nearby Franciscan monastery. The Polish minister will not accompany Maas during his visit to the former death camp.<\/p>\n
The German diplomat’s visit comes on the heels of controversy over Poland’s controversial Holocaust law, which triggered a diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The law originally provided for fines and jail time for those who publicly and incorrectly attribute to the Polish state or people responsibility for crimes committed by the Nazi regime. Critics accused Poland’s ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) of attempting to cover up crimes committed by Poles against Jews.<\/p>\n
In June, after months of talks with Israel, the Polish parliament voted to remove the possibility of jail time.<\/p>\n
During his inaugural address in March, Maas repeated his assertion that he entered politics because of Auschwitz.<\/p>\n
Estimates put the number of people murdered at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland at 1.1 million, 90 per cent of whom were Jews. Others murdered include Poles, Romani, Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war and homosexuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Berlin (dpa) – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas travels to Poland on Monday to make his first visit as top diplomat to Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp where more than 1 million people were murdered during World War II. \u00abFor me, Auschwitz is the perpetual reminder to defend the sacrosanct dignity of humanity worldwide,\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[343],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-103192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-actualidad"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t