Eighty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, genocide, the persecution of millions of people because of their origin, war and even the possible use of nuclear weapons are once again considered “normal.

Commemorations are being held Monday to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by Soviet troops.

When Teresa Regula arrived at Auschwitz as a 16-year-old, the first real pain she experienced was of her ears burning. "They shaved us down to bare skin, and it was a scorching hot day, August 4... That was the first authentic pain I felt,

Holocaust survivor Barbara Wojnarowska-Gautier was just three years old when she was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp and subjected to the disturbing experiments of Nazi doctor Dr Josef Mengele.

Doniecka, who goes to Auschwitz every year on the anniversary of its liberation, said that it was important for her to attend these events especially given she was in good health, unlike other survivors who were too ill or frail to travel.

About 50 survivors of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau will return to the site on Monday to remember the day it was finally liberated on 27 January 1945. They will be joined by heads of state including King Charles and other European royalty,

Silence pervades the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau today. Sometimes the only sounds are the soft footsteps of visitors, people who come from all over the world to mourn and to learn, and the voices of their guides speaking in hushed tones into microphones trying to explain the ungraspable.

Some of the few remaining survivors of Auschwitz will gather at the site of the Nazi death camp on Monday as the world marks the 80th anniversary of its liberation