British PM Pays First Visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron visits for the first time the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in Poland where millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust

During a 90-minute tour with the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Mr Cameron was shown train tracks that brought people to the camp and gas chambers where many of them were murdered.

Speaking later, the prime minister said his visit to the camp had filled him with "an overwhelming sense of grief for all those who were killed simply because of their faith, their beliefs or their ethnicity". He said it was "a reminder of why the UK must fight against prejudice, persecution, anti-Semitism and tyranny wherever we find it and stand up for inclusiveness, tolerance and peace.

A commission to examine how the UK remembers the Holocaust was announced earlier this year. It is aiming to establish a "permanent and fitting memorial" to the victims of the Nazis. Mr Cameron said its proposals would be announced next month to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.