On 18.4.2023 approximately 40 Holocaust survivors were at the head of the March of the Living. 10.000 people took part in the march, in memory of the victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Every year, thousands of young people, Jews and others, from all over the world take part in this march which is organized on the site of the death camp operated by the Nazis in occupied Poland during World War II.
Auschwitz-Birkenau is the symbol of the genocide committed by the Nazi regime against the Jews of Europe. Almost a million people died in this camp between 1940-45. Among them were 80.000 Poles (non-Jews), 25.000 Roma and 20.000 Soviet soldiers. The camp was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945.
The start for this year's 35th March of the Living was given to the sound of the shofar, the traditional horn, in front of the gate with the infamous inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work sets you free). The participants covered the three kilometers that separate Auschwitz from the Birkenau camp.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Israel's Minister of Education Yoav Kish participated in the march.
On Wednesday 19.4.2023 Warsaw will commemorate the Ghetto Uprising, when, on 19 April 1943, Jews tried to resist German soldiers. The presidents of Israel and Germany are expected to attend, and will also visit the city's old ghetto.
Over 450.000 Jews are estimated to have been displaced into this ghetto, a zone of approximately 3,4 square kilometers, cut off from the rest of the city. Most of them were then sent to the death camps or killed inside the ghetto.
SOURCE: website NAFTEMPORIKI, 18.4.2023
- Read on HERE more on MOTL's 35th March of the Living website (videos included)