A symbol of terror, suffering and death

A SHROUD of snow covered the ground where the ashes of more than a million people lay.

Beyond the memorial stones, the ruins of Nazi gas chambers were silhouettes against a leaden sky.

Within the barbed-wire fences, punctuated by watchtowers, survivors of Auschwitz gave witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. And yesterday they came back to commemorate the dead and to celebrate the defeat of tyranny.