German Chancellor Angela Merkel made her first visit on Friday at the sacred site of the former Nazi German death camp Auschwitz, the most infamous passages of the atrocities that the regime of Adolf Hitler struck Europe.

Accompanied by the Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Merkel Moravcova start with, saw a crematorium and walked under the gate with the infamous words “Arbeyt Macht Frei”.

It was a cynical phrase that meant “work will set you free” when the truth was that prisoners were subjected to either immediate execution, painful scientific experimentation, or forced labor.

Merkel and Moravicki went near the place of execution, where they bowed their heads before the two garlands with flowers of their people.

They also visited the laboratory, where conservation is done prior to the ceremony, where Merkel met with former detainees and had to give a speech.

Merkel also brought a donation of 60 million euros (66.6 million USD).

The money will go into a Fund to preserve the physical remnants of an object – barracks, guard towers and personal items such as shoes and suitcases of the victims.

Together, these objects are evidence of the German atrocities and one of the most recognizable symbols of mankind’s capacity for evil.

But they also deteriorate under the stress of time and mass tourism, which causes long-term conservation efforts.

This is a donation To Auschwitz comes in addition to the £ 60 million that Germany sacrificed when the Fund was launched ten years ago, in accordance with the Auschwitz-Birkenau state Museum.

As in the previous donation, half comes from the Federal government and half from the German States, the recognition of responsibility of the German nation.

Since she became Chancellor in 2005, Merkel honored the memory of the other Nazi concentration camps, and five times she was in the Israeli Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem.

However, Poland’s foreign Ministry called the visit “historic” in an apparent recognition of the unique status of Auschwitz in the world’s collective memory. The Ministry also noted that it was only the third visit of the acting head of the German government.

Most of the victims were Jews who were transported from all over Europe to be killed in the gas chambers. But there were also killed tens of thousands of other people, including poles, Soviet POWs and Gypsies, or Roma.

The camp was liberated by the Soviet army on 27 January 1945.