Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski thanked President Vladimir Putin in Krakow on Thursday for the Soviet Army's liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Kwasniewski was speaking during the opening of the international "Let My People Live" forum, devoted to the sixtieth anniversary of the camp's liberation.

"We bow to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, remembering the role of the Red Army, which had brought freedom to the prisoners of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and which had also liberated and saved Krakow from war destruction," the Polish president stated. "An end was put to nazi crimes and that was a victory of the international forces, united as they were in the battle against the Hitlerite evil. "

A group of veterans of the Soviet Army was decorated with high Polish awards during the formal opening of the forum.

The forum participants noted the extremely high price the Soviet Union had paid for the war victory.

Source: Itar-Tass