Auschwitz Survivors To Gather In Israel

A first-ever gathering of survivors from the Auschwitz death camp will highlight 50thanniversary observances of the defeat of the Nazis, Israel announced Sunday.

Avner Shalev, director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, said programs will focus on Jews who fought the Nazis in ghettos, as partisans or in Allied armies.

At the main ceremony, planned for Jan. 22 at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin will unveil a new memorial for Jews deported to Auschwitz.

More than 2 million people, mostly Jews, are estimated to have perished at Auschwitz.

About 2,500 survivors will attend the ceremony.