At Auschwitz, Rabin Vows to Defend Jews : Holocaust: ‘Such a tragedy will never happen again,’ Israel’s premier declares on visit to concentration camp.

Grim-faced and stoic, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin toured the remains of the Auschwitz concentration camp for two hours here Tuesday, then vowed, at a simple, moving ceremony in front of the camp’s main memorial, that the Jewish state will defend its people.

“Today, after 50 years, we have enough power and spiritual energy . . . to protect our new home against its enemies, enough to grant asylum to those persecuted, enough to repel all those who conspire against us. . . ,” he said.

Then, looking at the monument to the camp’s victims, he added: “We swear to you, as long as we live, as long as Israel as a nation is alive, such a tragedy will never happen again. We will defend every Jew in every corner of the Earth at any price. Your blood has not been shed in vain.”

Rabin is the first Israeli head of government to make an official visit to Auschwitz, a site where the Holocaust’s darkest chapter unfolded and the evil side of humankind took on a new, frightening dimension.

Historians believe that just over 1 million people, most of them Jews, were methodically gassed, shot, beaten, starved or tortured to death at the camp between the time it opened in June, 1940, and its liberation by the Soviets in January, 1945.

“We will never forgive, we will never forget,” Rabin declared.

Several Holocaust survivors and a group of Jewish students from Britain who happened to be visiting the camp listened quietly to his remarks.

Rabin’s comments came near the end of an emotion-filled, two-day visit to Poland made in connection with the 50th anniversary commemorations of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising held Monday. It was a visit in which Jews and Poles attempted to confront their troubled history together with a new directness in official statements, formal seminars and informal, chance meetings.

While both Rabin and Polish President Lech Walesa spoke of improved relations between the two countries, it was clear from numerous interviews that the emotion of individuals still remains a powerful, divisive force. Poland, which was home to 3.5 million Jews before World War II, today counts about 10,000.

Many Jews believe Poles are instinctively anti-Semitic and carry at least some responsibility for the tragedy that befell them here. At the same time, Poles feel hurt that Jews often seem reluctant to acknowledge both the many Polish acts of individual heroism to protect Jews and Poland’s own considerable suffering as Nazi Germany’s first victim of World War II.

During his two hours at Auschwitz, Rabin saw the building complex where victims were gassed and then cremated in assembly-line fashion, visited a permanent exhibit at the site and laid a wreath at the base of a courtyard wall where prisoners were executed.

Only once during the tour, very briefly in that small courtyard, did the prime minister visibly struggle to retain his composure. Nervously brushing his hair back from his face, Rabin quickly wiped his eyes, then moved on, staring at the ground.

Many of the survivors who accompanied the Israeli leader admitted that, despite the passage of nearly half a century, the visit was emotionally taxing.

“It’s tough for me, but the strength has to be summoned,” said Szmul Gogol, 87, who was once forced to play music for his Nazi German captors and now leads a children’s orchestra in Tel Aviv.

New York businessman Mark Palmer, 67, who spent much of the war as a forced laborer in a munitions factory a few miles from Auschwitz, said he still finds it impossible to discuss openly what happened.

“You can read about it, you can listen to stories, but unless you went through it, it is impossible to know how it was,” he said. “Healthy people suddenly murdered. Children thrown out of windows by people who then smile at what they did.”

The initial death camp was converted from an abandoned Austrian army barracks just west of the town. The community, then known as Auschwitz, today carries the Polish name, Oswiecim. In 1943, a second camp, called Auschwitz II, was opened at nearby Birkenau. To those who visit the complex, the combined 470 acres and 300 buildings are overwhelming.

Despite the emotional nature of Rabin’s visit, officials commented that it was a positive, if painful, step toward greater understanding.

“There’s more understanding, there will be more contact,” said Szewek Weiss, the Speaker of the Israeli Parliament. “Despite the tragedy, we have to work for a better future.”