This year's "International March of the Living" (IMOTL), which took place on 24.4.2025 in Auschwitz, was honorably dedicated to the participation of 80 invited Holocaust survivors, symbolically for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in 1945. 80 stories of persecution, anguish, survival and ultimately endurance, strength, creation, with the aim of preserving MEMORY.
Approximately 10.000 people, mainly young people, from 40 countries around the world participated in the March. The Greek delegation was represented by 8 young people from the ENE. The Remembrance and Life events were honored with their presence and participation by many officials, led by the Presidents of Israel and Poland, who particularly greeted the 80 survivors at a special event at Auschwitz I, before the March and the special ceremony at Auschwitz II (Birkenau).
The previous evening (April 23), as part of the events, there was a special ceremony for Yom HaShoah at the Krakow State Opera House with a memorial video, live music program and greetings with special reference to the release of the Hamas hostages, with two of the freed ones present. This was followed by the lighting of 6 candles for the 6 million Jews murdered in Nazi camps during the Holocaust.
Among the 80 survivors honored was Benjamin (Benis) Albalas, a hidden child in occupied Athens, President of the European March of the Living (EMOTL), Honorary President of the I.K. Athens and former President of KISE. He was awarded, like the other 79 survivors, a special commemorative medal of honor, crafted especially for the occasion.