Jan 27, 2020 - Politics & Policy

In photos: 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

Jacob Knutson

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe walks through a gate with the inscription "Work sets you free" (Arbeit macht frei) — French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe walks through a gate with the inscription "Work sets you free" ("Arbeit macht frei") on Jan. 27. Photo: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Army in 1945, and hundreds of survivors returned to the complex in commemoration, AP reports.

Why it matters: Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest camp built by Germany during World War II and where the Nazis killed 1.1 million men, women and children, most of them Jews.

In photos:

A surviver attends the official ceremony of the 75th anniversary — A survivor attends the official ceremony of the 75th anniversary on Jan. 27. Photo by Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, president of Germany, lays a wreath in commemoration on Jan. 27. Photo: Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images

Survivors and family members place candles on a monument on Jan. 27. Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

Former prisoners of Auschwitz-Birkenau carrying a floral tribute on Jan. 27. Photo: Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Lea Rosh, chairwoman of the Association Monument for the Murdered Jews of Europe lighting candles on one of the concrete steles of the memorial in Berlin on Jan. 27. Photo: John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images

A survivor mourning during a flower laying ceremony — A survivor mourns during a flower-laying ceremony on Jan. 27. Photo: Natalia Fedosenko/TASS via Getty Images

Go deeper: Pope Francis urges people to vow "never again" on Holocaust