Marian Turski died February 14. He was born in Druskininkai in 1926. A survivor of the Łódź ghetto, Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald and was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. He resettled in Poland where he advocated for the Communist regime and served as editor of the newspaper Sztandar Młodych and then as chief of the history department of the weekly Polytika, and authored at least seven books about the Holocaust and Communist politics in Poland. Our deepest condolences to his surviving daughter Joanna.

Turski was a vice president of the Jewish Historical Institute Association in Poland, amember of the governing board of the Association of Jews, War Veterans and Other Victims of the Second World War II, a member of the International Auschwitz Council and Council of the Association which operates the House of the Wannsee Conference. He was also an honorary member of the Jewish Motifs Association and the Jewish Motifs International Film Festival. He was also president of the Council of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. He was made honorary citizen of Warsaw in 2018 in part for his contributions in establishing the POLIN Museum.

In January of 2025 he gave a speech on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, UNESCO’s International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, at Auschwitz, saying “Therefore, fear not! We can observe a significant rise of anti-Semitism in today’s world, and yet it was precisely anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust,” and: “Let’s not shy away from convincing ourselves that it is indeed possible to resolve problems between neighbors. For hundreds of years, on different continents, different nations, nationalities and ethnic groups lived side by side and among one another. Mutual prejudices, animosity and hatred led to armed conflicts between these neighboring nations and ethnic groups. These always ended with bloodshed. Fortunately, there are also positive examples, when two sides come to conclusion that there is no way other than reaching a compromise to ensure their children, grandchildren and future generations enjoy a safe and peaceful existence.”