DW: Thousands of people at the "March of the Living" at Auschwitz

Thousands of people have participated in the "March of the Living" in Poland. In memory of the victims of the Holocaust, they marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau. Among them were victims of Hamas terrorism.

At the beginning of the "March of the Living" a trumpet sounded. The traditional Jewish wind instrument resonates in a place where a million Jews were killed.

The "March of the Living" stretches approximately three kilometers from the former Auschwitz concentration camp to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Around 80 Holocaust survivors also attended the memorial service.

One of them is Frances Malkin, born in Poland in 1938 and now living in the United States of America. "When they say 'never again,' it doesn't mean they won't try to kill us again," Malkin says. "That means we're not just going to leave, we're going to fight, which is what we're doing now in another part of the world."

Israel's President Escorted by Hamas Victims

Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog also emphasized the fight against today's anti-Semitism. On his visit to Poland, he was accompanied by ten Israelis, who were kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Herzog reminds those who are still in the hands of terrorists: "On the days when anti-Semitism raises its ugly head, when there is hatred towards Israel, when there are calls for the destruction of Israel, we must remind the world of the promise of 'never again'."

Duke and Duda kneel in front of the Black Wall

Together with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Herzog kneels in front of the Black Wall of the former Auschwitz concentration camp. There, the Nazis carried out numerous death sentences during the Nazi era.

Duda says that the memory of the Holocaust should stand as a warning to the world, but also as an expression of appreciation for those who were killed and died. "You can't be silent," Duda says. "We cannot remain silent when hatred arises between nations, hatred between ethnic groups."

Memory transmission to younger people

Holocaust survivors are elderly, many of them already dead. That's why it's so important for march organizers to pass on the memory to the next generation.

That is why many young people from Israel, including Mai Finkelshtein, have come to Poland. "The idea of the March of the Living is to celebrate life," he says. "The Nazis wanted to put an end to it, they wanted to kill the Jews. My generation of Jewish children is proof that we managed to survive."

They, young people, want to preserve and convey the memory of the horrors of the Holocaust. Even when the survivors are no longer here./DW