The Association of Carinthian Partisans was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Marian Turski, former internee, chairman of the International Auschwitz Committee and loyal and persistent anti-fascist fighter. Smrt fašizmu, svoboda narodu!
Obituary: Marian Turski (1926-2026)
FIR is deeply saddened to learn that an important figure in anti-fascist remembrance work, the Polish Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee Marian Turski, has died at the age of 98. In his speech at the commemorative event on January 23, 2025 in Berlin, which had to be read out due to his illness, he recalled how he and his family were deported to the Lodz ghetto by the Nazi occupation in 1942 and deported to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in 1944. Thanks to the solidarity of his fellow prisoners and his will to survive, he survived this camp. When the camp was dissolved in January 1945, he was taken on one of the death marches to Buchenwald concentration camp before being deported to Theresienstadt, where he was liberated by the Red Army on May 8, 1945, scarred by his ordeal and deprivation. He returned to Warsaw and became involved in the Polish United Workers' Party, where he worked as head of the historical editorial department of the news magazine “Polityka” from 1958.Even in old age, he continued to take on social tasks in the field of remembrance work. He was Chairman of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, a member of the main board of the Association of Jewish Combatants and Victims of the Second World War, Chairman of the Council of the Warsaw Museum of the History of Polish Jews and, since 2021, President of the International Auschwitz Committee. In his speeches, he repeatedly warned against the rise of the far right in Europe and the resurgence of anti-Semitism and racism. He has received numerous international awards for this in recent years.
We express our deepest sympathy to his family and the members of the International Auschwitz Committee on the loss of this upright man, an important figure in the anti-fascist movement.
Vilmos Hanti - President of the FIR
Dr. Ulrich Schneider - Secretary General of the FIR
