Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday embarked for Poland ahead of Monday’s 75th anniversary of the liberation of the World War II Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
“It seems unimaginable, but it was real, and it happened, and 6 million Jewish people lost their lives. It’s important to be there on the 75th anniversary,” the governor said at JFK Airport in Queens before his flight.
“It’s also an important time to be there because of what’s going on in this nation today,” he added.
The trip comes at a time when New York is grappling with a spate of hate crimes, including December’s horrific attack on Hanukkah celebrants in Monsey, Rockland County.
Cuomo said he will deliver mementos to leave at the site, including a paperweight model of the Jewish Museum at Battery Park.
Sam Hersly, a Queens resident and Holocaust survivor, spoke alongside Cuomo on Sunday. He spent one year at Auschwitz at the age of 18 and is originally from Krakow, Poland.
“I lost my parents, my brother and over 70 cousins and uncles and aunts in the Holocaust,” an emotional Hersly said.
“I am the only survivor from my entire family. … I made it out, and I am lucky to be alive. I am here because we cannot ever forget what happened there what happened to my family.”
Cuomo is traveling with top aide Melissa DeRosa and Empire State Development President Eric Gentler.
The governor’s office did not respond to questions about who was funding the trip.