Muslim Dignitaries Visit Auschwitz
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110201/...ocaust_muslims

OSWIECIM, Poland – In a bid to fight anti-Semitism and bridge cultural rifts, a large delegation of Muslim dignitaries visited Auschwitz on Tuesday to pay tribute to the millions of Jews and others who were systematically killed in the Holocaust.

The group of some 150 people included representatives from Morocco, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, as well as rabbis, Holocaust survivors and Christian representatives. Several European dignitaries also were part of the group, including the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"Muslims have to stand up with Jewish friends because in Europe, anti-Semitism is rising — and where there is anti-Semitism, Islamophobia is not far away," said British Mufti Abduljalil Sajid.

Sajid said he knew of the Holocaust from books and movies but that it was his first visit to Auschwitz. "I wanted to see it with my own eyes — and teach others about the evil of hate," he said. "This should never happen again, to anybody."