The exhibition includes details of the Auschwitz concentration camp

Survivors of the atrocity have contributed photographs which can be viewed at the exhibition's temporary home at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.

It details atrocities committed at Auschwitz and tells how people labelled "different" by the Nazis were killed.

Malcolm Chisholm said organisers hoped more people would add to the Testimony exhibition over time.

The official opening came a day before the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday to mark the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

We know that some young people today are not aware of this atrocity Malcolm Chisholm Communities Minister

Satellite exhibitions are also open to the public in West Dunbartonshire and Aberdeenshire.

Testimony will provide a permanent memorial for Scotland and will be developed to bring in more first-hand accounts from Holocaust survivors.

The director of the Scottish Council for Jewish Communities, Ephraim Borowski, and Wanda Hutny, a representative of the director of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, attended the opening.

'Brutal regime'

Mr Chisholm said: "This is a very personal insight where, through the eyes of others, we are reminded of the horrors of genocide and the brutality of man against fellow human beings.

"We know that some young people today are not aware of this atrocity.

It is hoped the exhibition will be built up as a permanent memorial

"History teaches us powerful, important lessons and we must ensure that we are not complacent."

The permanent memorial would stand as a lasting legacy for all those who died at the hands of the "brutal regime" of death camps, Mr Chisholm added.

The exhibition has been produced for the executive by Heartstone, a Scottish non-profit organisation, with ministers giving �56,000 to fund the exhibition.

A number of organisations have also contributed to Testimony including, The Holocaust Education Trust, Centre For German Jewish Studies and the World War Two Experience Centre.

Testimony includes images of young people taking part in the March of the Living, an annual march to remember the victims of the Holocaust.