On September 4, 2003, the Israeli Air Force flew three F-15 fighter planes over the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland during a ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of the Polish Air Force. The flyover was meant as a show of how the Jewish people continue with strength, and triumph over past adversities.

During the Holocaust, approximately six million Jews were murdered at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators. Millions of Jews and other victims of the Nazis were imprisoned, enslaved and murdered at Auschwitz and her sister camps. This air force event was a testament to the world that the saying "never again" is not just a slogan.

The leader of the Air Force jets was Major-General Amir Eshel, himself a son of Holocaust survivors. During the flyover, Mjr-Gen. Eshel transmitted a message from his cockpit to the ceremony below:

"We pilots of the Air Force, flying in the skies above the camp of horrors, arose from the ashes of the millions of victims and shoulder their silent cries, salute their courage and promise to be the shield of the Jewish people and its nation Israel."

Sources: Israel Defense Forces; YouTube

Auschwitz-Birkenau: Israeli Air Force Flies Over Auschwitz