The annual \"March of the Living\" walk from Birkenau to Auschwitz took take place in Poland this afternoon. Some 2,500 Jewish youth from around the world marched the same three kilometers along which 250,000 Jews perished in three \"Death Marches\" during the Holocaust years. The \"March of the Living\" is a loud proclamation that \"Am Yisrael Chai\" - the People of Israel Lives. The youth include 1,000 from North America, 600 from Israel, 500 from Poland, hundreds from Europe, and, for the first time, a delegation of 35 young Australian Jews (who traveled 33 hours one-way to arrive in Poland.)
Eli Rubenstein, National Director of the March of the Living program in Canada, told Arutz-7 that a delegation of Jewish youth from Montreal will, this coming Monday, be among the first Jewish groups to visit the Polish city of Jedwabne. \"This town figured prominently in the news of late,\" he explained, \"when it was learned that the massacre of over 1,500 Jews in 1941 was not committed by Nazis, as was previously thought, but by Polish citizens, neighbors of the Jews they slaughtered. Most significantly, the Polish government accepted responsibility and the Prime Minister made an official apology. This is the first time that the Poles have recognized that not only were they victimized, but that they victimized others.\" Although no vestige of the vibrant Jewish life that thrived in Jedwabne for centuries remains, a monument testifying to the Polish massacre of the Jews will be unveiled this summer. Researchers have discovered signs of a possible second Polish massacre of Jedwabne Jews during the Holocaust.
Eli Rubenstein, National Director of the March of the Living program in Canada, told Arutz-7 that a delegation of Jewish youth from Montreal will, this coming Monday, be among the first Jewish groups to visit the Polish city of Jedwabne. \"This town figured prominently in the news of late,\" he explained, \"when it was learned that the massacre of over 1,500 Jews in 1941 was not committed by Nazis, as was previously thought, but by Polish citizens, neighbors of the Jews they slaughtered. Most significantly, the Polish government accepted responsibility and the Prime Minister made an official apology. This is the first time that the Poles have recognized that not only were they victimized, but that they victimized others.\" Although no vestige of the vibrant Jewish life that thrived in Jedwabne for centuries remains, a monument testifying to the Polish massacre of the Jews will be unveiled this summer. Researchers have discovered signs of a possible second Polish massacre of Jedwabne Jews during the Holocaust.