Israel's military chief to visit Auschwitz for Holocaust memorial, will meet Polish officials

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says its chief of staff will head a delegation to a Holocaust memorial at the site of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz.

Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the son of Holocaust survivors, left for Poland Sunday as Israel prepared for its Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day commemorations.

Six million Jews were systematically murdered by German Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust of World War II, wiping out a third of world Jewry.

The Israeli military said Gantz will be welcomed in a military ceremony.

Gantz will later meet with Poland's defense minister and chief of staff.

He will place a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw, the military said.