Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Nazi camps at Auschwitz, liberated 60 years ago today, remain a symbol of ``irredeemable evil'' in a world where anti-Semitism is becoming more widespread, said Daniel Goldhagen, an author and former Harvard University professor.

``Auschwitz is the word more than any other that conjures up the image of irredeemable evil,'' Goldhagen, who wrote ``Hitler's Willing Executioners,'' a book examining the roles ordinary Germans played in the genocide of the Jews, said in a telephone interview. ``Many people think that when the survivors are eventually gone, these events will recede into the past, but I think the opposite -- as they die, it will take more precedence.''

Today's ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is drawing leaders from almost 40 countries, including U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney and Russian President Vladimir Putin. As many as 1.5 million people were killed in Auschwitz, mostly Jews. Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war also died there.

The Auschwitz camps were established in 1940 by Poland's Nazi occupiers under Hitler's command to detain political prisoners and Jewish deportees from across Europe. In 1942 they were transformed into death camps in which thousands of people could be killed simultaneously in the gas chambers.

A report for the European Union's Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia published last year found that anti-Semitism increased from 1992 to 2002 as post-war sensibilities declined and Muslim concerns in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict spilled over into anti-Jewish sentiment.

`Globalized' Anti-Semitism

``Anti-Semitism is becoming displaced and globalized,'' Goldhagen said. ``Now there are complex flows, just like with trade.''

In France, the study showed, the number of anti-Semitic acts increased to 193 in 2002 from 20 in 1992, while threats against Jewish people or institutions rose steadily over the decade to 731 in 2002, from 94 in 1992.

``The EUMC's study on anti-Semitism in the EU clearly shows that Europe has a problem with anti-Semitism, manifestations of which have been getting more frequent in some member states,'' said the Centre's Andreas Accardo.

Another report for the EU center showed that anti-Semitism is rarely legislated against in the new EU member states, and that public awareness is lower. Poland and nine other mainly Eastern European countries joined the EU last May, swelling the number of member states to 25 and the population of the bloc to 450 million.

Soviet Liberation

In late 1944, as the Soviet Union's Red Army moved closer to Auschwitz, Nazi officers gave the order for documents and buildings to be destroyed, and the camp was evacuated between Jan. 17 and 21, 1945. All inmates able to walk were forced to trek towards what remained of Hitler's Third Reich.

On Jan. 27 Soviet soldiers arrived in Auschwitz to find the few thousand surviving camp inmates on the point of death from hunger, disease or cold, as well as signs of the mass-murder that had taken place there.

The Polish parliament decreed the establishment of a national museum on the site of the former camps, near Krakow in southern Poland, in 1947. According to its own figures, the museum has attracted as many as 25 million visitors.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Israeli President Moshe Katsav and Putin will all hold speeches during the 90-minute ceremony, which begins at 2:30 p.m. local time.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katya Andrusz in Warsaw at kandrusz@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 27, 2005 03:07 EST