Germany is donating (EURO)60 million ($87 million) to a new endowment for Auschwitz-Birkenau, half the amount needed to preserve dilapidated barracks and the ruins of gas chambers at the former Nazi death camp.
Jaroslaw Mensfelt, spokesman for the memorial site, called the donation "huge." He said Thursday that "it's really such a good starting point that hopefully other countries will soon follow" with further donations.
The German pledge was announced Wednesday. It came in response to appeals from the Polish government, which has borne most of the cost so far of preserving the camp the Nazis set up in southern Poland during World War II.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Wednesday the donation is an expression of "our historical responsibility."
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