Thousands mourn Holocaust at Auschwitz march

OSWIECIM, Poland (Reuters) - Thousands of young Jews, Poles and Holocaust survivors on Tuesday marched at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz to mourn the victims of Adolf Hitler's plan to exterminate Jews during World War Two.

Led by former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, some 8,000 people took part in the annual March of the Living between Auschwitz and its twin camp Birkenau, some three kilometers (two miles) away.

"As long as I am alive, I will come here each year. It is my duty," said Stefan Buchler, 74, an Auschwitz survivor who now lives in Israel.

Some 1.5 million people, or about one in four Jews who died in the Holocaust, were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Birkenau, the biggest death camp complex, set up by Germans in occupied Poland.

Marchers begun their trek under Auschwitz's notorious gate with the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work sets you free).

"I am shocked. This should be a warning for everyone to reject intolerance, which can very easily lead to fascism," said Marion Pitzer, a teenager from Israel.

This year's march, under the banner "Never again," comes just a month before German-born Pope Benedict visits Auschwitz as part of his first visit to Poland as Pontiff.

Benedict, who as a child in Nazi Germany was forced to join the Hitler Youth paramilitary organization, has pledged to continue work toward Catholic-Jewish reconciliation.

"Here under these walls my family was murdered," said Krzysztof Kisielewski, a Pole whose father and aunt were killed in Auschwitz. "When I think that the German Pope will pray here in a few weeks, I believe that history has turned full circle."

-- With reporting by Wojciech Zurawski