English soccer squad pays visit to Auschwitz

The players of England's national football team, due tonight to play against Poland in a qualification match for the soccer World Cup 2006, have paid a visit to the site of the Auschwitz death camp. Stars such as David Beckham and Michael Owen were visibly moved by their tour of the former concentration camp, where more than a million people, mostly of them Jews, were murdered from 1940 to 1945. Jewish leaders in Britain applauded the players. Lord Janner, vice-president of the World Jewish Congress and chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust, was quoted by the newspaper "The Mirror" as saying: "Auschwitz is the worst place on earth. I salute the team for their brave and decent example. I hope that all visitors to Poland follow their example and I hope our boys do England proud in the match."