Death camp a sacred place for Yushchenko

UKRAINIAN president Viktor Yushchenko, who visited Auschwitz yesterday, recalled his father’s ordeal in the death camp he described as a “sacred place” for him and his family.

Yushchenko had known of Nazi atrocities as a child from his father’s account of the horrors he endured.

“My father was a wounded soldier and he was in Auschwitz. He had a tattoo 11367 on his chest,” said Yushchenko, addressing a forum in Krakow before ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops. “This is not my first time here. I came here with my children and I hope to come many more times, even with my grandchildren. This is a sacred place for me and my family. This is the place where my father suffered.”