US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman will lead a delegation of US ambassadors to the 31st March of the Living in Poland on Holocaust Memorial Day.
Some 10,000 Jewish and non-Jewish youth from all over the world will walk 3.2 kilometers between the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps, in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and in a call to fight anti-Semitism. This year the main event of the Holocaust Day will be devoted to the memory of Greek Jewry and the singer Yehuda Poliker will participate in the march and perform at the ceremonies.
The marchers will call for a global fight against anti-Semitism amid the growing number of of hate crimes against Jews around the world in the past two years. They will also take part in a large-scale digital ad campaign under the slogan: #SayNoToAntisemitism.
The Diaspora Affairs Ministry reported that 2018 was the year in which the most Jews were murdered in anti-Semitic attacks since 1994. Hundreds of anti-Semitic incidents have occurred so far in 2019.
20 young people from all over the world, some of whom have experienced anti-Semitism on their own, will sign a joint treaty to combat racism and antisemitism and call on young people around the world to take part in an international event on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Krakow.
"Unfortunately, lately anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head, and studies in the US and Europe have shown that about half of the youth have never heard of Auschwitz before. One of our goals here in the March of the Living is to fight against it, "said Dr. Shmuel Rosenman, chairman of the March of the Living, "We are here to say in a clear voice: 'Never again.' We are marching to remind the world of the horrors and to lead a global move to fight anti-Semitism."
Along with thousands of young people from around the world, dozens of Holocaust survivors will also attend the march to tell their stories. They will be joined by a special delegation headed by the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedmann, US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, US ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, and US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism Elan Carr.
Greece will also send a distinguished delegation to the march, headed by Patriarch Bartholomew Patriarch Constantinople, the new Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarch, leader of tens of millions of Orthodox Christians around the world; And the Speaker of the Greek Parliament, Mr. Nicholas Watsis.
Also participating in the march will be Romanian Prime Minister Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă, Tel Acic Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who has been marching since the first march in 1988. Jewish Agency Chairman Yitzhak Herzog will head the Jewish Agency delegation,
The March of the Living is an annual educational program that brings people from all over the world to Poland and Israel on a journey from Destruction to Revival. The purpose of the march is to instill in the younger generation the history of the Holocaust and to instill in it values of tolerance, acceptance of the other, volunteerism and mutual responsibility.
More than 250,000 participants, from 52 countries have marched on the 3 km railway from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Memorial Day since the first march in 1988.
In the framework of the program, various youth delegations, Jews and non-Jews alike, visit the ghettos, monuments and death camps, culminating in a march between Auschwitz and Birkenau.
After that, the participants from the March of the Living will continue their journey from Poland for a week of study in Israel, where they take part in the Memorial Day ceremonies for the IDF Fallen Soldiers, the Jerusalem March, where 6,000 youth will march and Independence Day celebrations will take place.