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‘I survived Hitler, Stalin…’: Ukrainian Holocaust survivor says can live through ‘ar**hole Putin’
Anastasia Gulej was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland in January 1945 when she was 19, and at the time Anne Frank was also there. Gulej was later moved to Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany, where she stayed until it was liberated by Canadian and British troops on April 15,1945.
A 96-year-old Holocaust survivor namely Anastasia Gulej, who had been a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland with Anne Frank during World War II, condemned Russian invasion of her home country Ukraine, MailOnline reported. She called Russian President Vladimir Putin's special military operation - as he puts it, a “genocide”. Gulej fled to Germany after Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine in February, the MailOnline report added.
Gulej said that she survived dictators Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin during the Holocaust and Stalinism period, and will live through “this ar**hole Putin too”. She made the comment earlier this month during an event, which marked the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany by British and Canadian troops.
“I have no words for what the Hitler admirers from the Kremlin did in Bucha and Mariupol,” she was quoted as saying by MailOnline.
Auschwitz was one the largest concentration and extermination camps operated by the Nazis during World War II. It was built after the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939, which triggered the war. According to reports, more than 1 million people, including Jews and prisoners of war, among others, were murdered at Auschwitz.
Gulej was sent to Auschwitz by the Nazis in January 1945 when she was 19, and at the time Frank was also there. The 96-year-old was later moved to Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany, where she remained until it was liberated by British and Canadian soldiers on April 15, 1945.
Frank was also sent to Bergen-Belsen but died at the age of 15 in February 1945.
Speaking about the moment she was liberated, Gulej said she did not even have adequate strength to “feel joy”. “I can't forget a single minute that I spent here (Bergen-Belsen camp) waiting for death,” she was quoted as saying by MailOnline.
Gulej said she wanted to continue living in her country Ukraine even after the Russian invasion. However, as her house was near to the airport - a prime target for Russian airstrikes, she fled to Germany with her son Wassyl and daughter Walentyna. Her escape was aided by her German friends, she told MailOnline.
The Holocaust survivor's comparison of Kremlin to the Nazis comes after Russian troops were accused earlier this month of committing war crimes on Ukrainian civilians in Bucha. At least 20 bodies in civilian clothes, with some having their hands tied in their backs, were found in the Ukrainian town - located northwest of capital Kyiv. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently investigating the war crimes in Bucha as well as Mariupol - one of the most affected places in Ukraine by the war.
Russia has consistently denied committing war crimes in Ukraine, but the revelations have made the United States and its western allies to impose a string of additional sanctions on Moscow. It has also stalled the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
On Thursday, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres visited Bucha and other alleged war crime sites in Ukraine. Talking to reporters in Bucha, he appealed to Russia to cooperate with the ICC on the probe into the war crimes. He also said war in 21st century is an “absurdity and evil”, and a “crime in itself”.
