Survivors' defiant march

Cracow - Jewish survivors of Auschwitz return today to join a ceremony marking the fiftieth anniversary of its liberation by the Red Army, writes Adrian Bridge. In addition to marching through the gate through which more than 1 million people went to their deaths, they will also hear a message from fellow survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel and will pray for the dead.

The ceremony is separate from the programme organised by Polish officials, in protest at what many Jews consider insensitivity over the fact that the overwhelming majority of Auschwitz victims were Jews.

Representatives from the more than 20 countries whose citizens perished at Auschwitz began gathering in the nearby city of Cracow yesterday to attend the two days of events marking the commemoration.

Today they are scheduled to begin work on the text of an appeal for world peace and tolerance and to attend a variety of religious services. Tomorrow they will attend the official commemoration at the Auschwitz camp.

n Moscow - President Boris Yeltsin marked the anniversary by formally rehabilitating millions of prisoners who perished in the Gulag, Reuter reports.