World leaders on Thursday pledged continued efforts to fight racial prejudice and the reemergence of anti-Semitism as the world mourns World War II victims on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz death camp.

At an event held at Westminster for 600 British survivors and veterans of the war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the memory of the Holocaust victims should be honored by a resolute fight against racial prejudice.

"We must never dishonor their memory by allowing the ugly poison of racial prejudice and hatred to hold sway again," he said.

"We must pledge ourselves to confront such prejudice wherever it seeks to disfigure our community and we must remember above all that the Holocaust did not start with a concentration camp.

"It started with a brick through the shop window of a Jewish business, the desecration of a synagogue, the shout of racist abuse on the street."

Blair described Nazi atrocities as "an industry, not just the destruction of human life, but of human essence, done with a barbarity we can scarcely contemplate."

"This was no natural disaster, no act of God, but an act of deliberate, calculated evil such as humanity never in its existence knew before, and let us pray, never knows again," he told the gathering.

In Auschwitz, Poland, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the international community to make efforts to make sure the tragedies at Auschwitz "are not repeated."

"We have to learn from the cruel mistakes of the past, understand what caused them and do everything to make sure that they are not repeated," Putin said at the ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation by Soviet troops of the Auschwitz death camp. He also urged caution against terrorism.

"Today, we should not only remember the past, but also be aware of all the threats of the modern world," he said.

"Terrorism is among them, and it is no less dangerous and cunning than fascism. And it is equally cruel: it has already claimed thousands of innocent lives," he added.

Newly inaugurated Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko vowed that anti-Semitism would never be allowed to take root in his country again.

"As president, I will ensure that there will never be in Ukraine any more anti-Semitism, xenophobia or hatred between people," he told a forum held in Krakow, Poland.

Yushchenko, whose father was once a prisoner of war in Auschwitz, had known of Nazi atrocities in childhood from his father's account of the dreadful years.

He said, he hoped that the future generations could draw "strength and wisdom" from the Holocaust.

In Brussels, the European Parliament adopted Thursday a resolution to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz camp.

The resolution said the liberation of Nazi Germany's death campat Auschwitz is not only a major occasion for European citizens to remember and condemn the enormous horror and tragedy of the holocaust, but also for addressing the disturbing rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Europe.

This is also an occasion for "learning anew the wider lessons about the dangers of victimizing people on the basis of race, ethnic origin, religion, political or sexual orientation, or social classification," said the resolution.

The European Union (EU) assembly proposed declaring Jan. 27 "European Holocaust Memorial Day" across the EU.

The resolution calls on the EU institutions and member states to coordinate better their efforts to combat anti-Semitism in Europe and attacks on minority groups.

In Berlin, President of Germany's lower house of parliament Wolfgang Thierse pointed out that far-right extremists remained in parts of the German society.

Germany's National Democratic Party caused public outrage Friday when its 12 representatives staged a walkout in the eastern Saxony state legislature and its deputy leader Holger Apfel told the state assembly the Allied bombing of Dresden in World War II was a "bombing holocaust."

Source: Xinhua