Germany's leading Jewish organization, the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said it was boycotting the memorial event in the German parliament because surviving victims had not been personally acknowledged in the past.

"I would understand it if we were talking about representatives of the second or third generations," Council General Secretary Stephan J. Kramer told AP news agency. "But it cannot be that actual survivors are treated like mere onlookers."

German President Horst Koehler addressed the Bundestag in a speech marking the 64th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. January 27th has been the official day for Holocaust remembrance in Germany since 1996.