The March of the Living Expands Its Message to Address a New Generation

Greater Miami Jewish Federation More than a quarter century after the founding of the March of the Living, an innovative Holocaust education program for high school students, its organizers are re-examining the iconic journey to Poland and Israel and adapting new ways to make it relevant for a new generation of young Jews. “Kids are now more savvy and connected than the teens of 15 or 20 years ago,” said Morrie Siegel, Chair of Miami’s March of the Living program. “They’ve grown up with various messages about the Holocaust, and that exposure challenges us to engage them. We are the stewards of this phenomenal community Holocaust education effort, and our job is to set the table for these kids so they can take the experiences of the March and make them their own.” Created in 1987 by educators and Holocaust survivors in Miami, the program today is known locally as the Leo Martin March of the Living (LMMOL), in memory of the Holocaust survivor and major benefactor who founded the Friends of the March of the Living. Local coordination of the March is administered by the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE), a subsidiary of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. The educational journey begins in Miami with a series of training sessions, in which participants learn about the history of Poland and Israel, meet participating Holocaust survivors, and share their own family connections to the Holocaust. Then, the students travel to Poland, where they study the history of pre-war European Jewry and the Holocaust, and examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate. The central impactful “March” of the program is a 3-kilometer walk from the site of the Nazis’ Auschwitz concentration camp to the Birkenau death camp in a silent tribute to all victims of the Holocaust. Since the first March of the Living, more than 250,000 youth from around the world have followed the same path. The Poland portion of the program reaches a crescendo at this ceremony, which demonstrates to the international community that the Jewish people are alive, strong and vibrant. “The March of the Living is about actively entering history, rather than passively studying history,” said Rabbi Arnold Samlan, Executive Director of CAJE. “By visiting the death camps of Eastern Europe, participants undertake a commemorative act, which demonstrates to the world that the deaths of six million Jews and so many others will never be forgotten.” One challenge for organizers, said Samlan, is the environment of Poland itself. Over the years, some of the historic sites have been sanitized and renovated, while others have been damaged or even destroyed.. Local residents have also become accustomed to the annual March and are less apt to be surprised by the influxof young Jews each year. Today, the March is being made more relevant to young participants by emphasizing both the universally human as well as the particularly Jewish experiences of the Holocaust. Educators emphasize the individual obligation to never again allow discrimination directed by any individual or group against another to gain strength. Participants are inspired to commit to building a world free of oppression and intolerance, a world of freedom, democracy and justice for all of people. The March is scheduled each year to coincide with Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) while participants are in Poland. The second leg of the journey takes them to Israel, where they experience the centrality and historical importance of that country to the Jewish people, as well as its role as a modern safe haven for Jews fleeing oppression. After visiting Poland, observing Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) in Israel is dramatic and moving. LMMOL Manager Aley Sheer explained that this timing is intentional because it helps perpetuate the observance of both occasions in the minds of the March participants. “The chapters of Jewish history that are best remembered are those that have been distinguished by events in the Jewish calendar,” said Sheer. “For example, we remember the slavery in Egypt because we celebrate Passover. The March of the Living experience creates memories that will last throughout the participants’ lifetimes, and will be directly connected withYom HaShoah, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut. These observances ensure that a new generation will remember and honor the lessons of the Holocaust and its aftermath for years to come.” For Miami participants, Yom Hazikaron has been particularly poignant in recent years because they have spent the day in Yerucham, Miami’s partner city in the Negev region. The participants share the emotional occasion with teens and families from Yerucham, gaining a greater appreciation of sacrifices made to defend the State of Israel. Since its inception, the March of the Living has been enhanced by the participation of Holocaust survivors who have accompanied participants on their journey and shared their memories of the inhumanity inflicted by the Nazis. Seven decades after the defeat of Nazi Germany and the liberation of the concentration camps, many Holocaust survivors have passed away and others are becoming too frail to make the trip. “The survivors have been an irreplaceable asset to the March and have had a profound influence on our program and participants,” said Sheer. “There will come a time when they will be gone, but their testimony and influence will be maintained.” The March of the Living program has been recording the memories and insights of Holocaust survivors to preserve their poignant participation for the future, he said. As the generation of survivors is passing, a goal for the March of the Living is to empower participants as the new advocates of the lessons of the Holocaust. The program’s organizers seek to imbue today’s teens with a sense of morality and fairness that comes from witnessing one of the bloodiest periods of oppression in human history. “We look to the young people who participate in the March to take up the message of the survivors and share that message with the world,” Sheer said. “As we get further in time from the Holocaust period, that mission becomes even more critical, and will preserve the spirit of the survivors into the future.” Morrie Siegel pointed out that the costs of operating the March of the Living have escalated dramatically over the years, presenting still another challenge. Thanks to support from the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and the Friends of the March of the Living, the program is partially underwritten and can offer scholarships to participants. The next March of the Living is scheduled to take place in April 2015 and registration is now open at http://www.caje-miami.org/mol. For more information, contact Aley Sheer of the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education at 305-576-4030, ext. 143, or AleySheer@caje-miami.org.

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Thousands join March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau

Y Net News  By Michal Margalit Annual event, now in its 27th year, includes delegations from 45 countries, each accompanied by a Holocaust survivor. Thousands of people from around the world arrived in Poland on Thursday for the annual March of the Living walk from the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz to the nearby Birkenau camp, as part of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. March of the Living in Auschwitz (Photo: EPA) This year, people from more than 45 countries will take part in the event, with delegations from the United States, Canada, UK, Mexico, Panama, Greece, Australia, Morocco, France, Austria, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa. Each delegation was to be accompanied by a Holocaust survivor who was to tell their own personal story. Now in its 27th year, the March of the Living has been performed by more than 220,000 people. The marchers will work 3.2 km from Auschwitz to the nearby Birkenau camp. Following the two-hour march, a ceremony commemorating the victims of the Holocaust will take place. "It's hard to say how many people are here," Yoram Dori, spokesman for the March of the Living, told Ynet ahead of the march. "But there are thousands here. At the head of the march, just like every year, will be Chairman of Yad Vashem and the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, himself a Holocaust survivor. He will be joined by dignitaries from Israel and abroad." The march this year will mark 70 years to the end of World War II and the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army. An Austrian delegation will join the marchers this year, led by Austrian Education Minister Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek. Other members of the Austrian delegation will include the Second President of the Austrian National Council, Karlheinz Kopf, the head of the Greens party, Dr. Eva Glawischnig, and Susanne Brandsteidl, Executive President of the Vienna Board of Education. They will be accompanied by 300 Austrian teenagers who are not Jewish. "The Austrian delegation is here to show that the education system in the country has been teaching the lessons learned from the Holocaust and the Holocaust topic in general over the past few years," Dori said. "Yesterday, there was a ceremony in Krakow, where the Austrian education minister explained they feel an obligation to participate in the March of the Living. They introduced the topic of the Holocaust to their curriculum as part of the country's fight against anti-Semitism and racism." The US administration sent its Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Keith Harper, to the March of the Living. Harper is a Native American of the Cherokee Tribe and is considered close to President Barack Obama. "Jewish teenagers from all over the world are taking part in the march," Dori said. "They come to Poland for a week for a tour of the extermination camps and other Jewish sites and then return to Israel, as a symbol of the transition from the Holocaust to the liberation, and see Israel's accomplishments, participate in a memorial service for IDF soldiers and then celebrate Independence Day with a march in Jerusalem." "Those who have yet to see the joy on Independence Day of the teens who participated in the March of the Living a week before, have not seen true joy," Dori added. "You can see Jewish teenagers in the March of the Living wrapped in Israeli flags, looking inwards and sad as they're exposed for the first time to the shacks (in the camp), see the suitcases of Jews with their name tags, the Jews' shoes and other items, and you can't stay indifferent to that."

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Team MOTL has 5 Spots in the 2013 New York Marathon

We are very excited to announce that the March of the Living International is an Official Charity Partner for the 2013 New York Marathon! We have 5 coveted spots for…

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Project6Million

You experienced something unique and powerful in your MOTL experience, which only those who have done it can truly understand. We know that feeling, as do thousands of others who have experienced MOTL like you did. It’s a powerful shift, which you’ll want to come back to in you over and over. Here’s where that begins, along with all the other marchers who have experienced it. What is Project6Million? A channel for participants to turn their life-changing experience into an active commitment, impact and inspiration they can share with the world. It’s an interactive, online, global Holocaust remembrance initiative unlike any other. It’s a way for MOTL participants to take a stand from the lessons they’re learning in Poland and Israel, while sharing their commitment to creating a world without the hatred and intolerance that caused the Holocaust. They can inspire a generation to choose differently with even the smallest statement – make a moment to take a stand. It’s easy for you and your delegation to get involved. As you reflect with your group through MOTL, ask them to think about each of our individual roles in perpetuating the message beyond the camps. Go to project6million.org, see the statements of Marchers and people all over the world, and then… take a stand to honor the six million Jewish men, women and children taken in the Holocaust by giving your own statement of commitment to standing up against hatred and intolerance. Your statement will be shared on the project's website and will make a powerful impact for many around the world.  With every 2015 marcher making a statement, an important shift will happen in turning their transformative experience of MOTL into thousands of personal commitments to the world. From there, we share it with others and together, we, as MOTL alumni around the world, can build and spread a global movement of awareness and people dedicated to a better world out of our shared experience. If we do not empower the conversation after the experience, then we have failed.     Together we can go beyond never again, to create a world where tolerance trumps hate. Declare your voice, make your statement, become part of the movement. Make a moment now to take a stand.

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MOTL Partnerships for Alumni Relations: Project6Million

MOTL is partnering to bring a new alumni follow-up process to every participant and supporter this year and beyond. Project6Million, started by alumni from the 2011 Cincinnati MOTL Delegation,…

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Life After The March: Finding The Silver Lining By Miriam Spitz Kahan

My journey began 16 years ago. I was one of thousands who took part in The March of The Living in Poland. I’m still haunted by the memories of what I witnessed. On the day we walked from Auschwitz to Birkenau, in the footsteps of those who were led to their deaths, I remember seeing the numerous Israeli Flags lining the streets, being held in the hands of 5,000 Jews from all over the world and it sparked a flame in my heart. A flag that symbolizes the dream of so many of the millions who perished was there in Poland, waving proudly against the backdrop of the camps where they were murdered, a flag that continues to represent the that dream fulfilled. As with all March of the Living Alumni, while my time in Poland has stayed with me forever, it raised many questions. Reviewing the daily journal that I have kept all these years, I cannot help but think back to those days in Poland. These are some excerpts from the journal: On the plane home: As I sat on the plane returning home, I tried to wrap my mind around the reality that awaited me. How am I going to handle being home? How will I be able to share my experience with people who have no idea of what I’ve seen? It seemed as if my faith and spirit have disappeared in the wake of the horrors that remain with me. All that I know has been turned upside-down. Everyone else is happy to be home. Not me. I don’t know where I belong. What am I to do? I can’t come to terms with what I saw, with how I feel. After 1 month:It is hard for me to honestly describe my transition. But I’m starting to feel detached from my memories, from those souls who perished. My feelings of loss and despair have started to fade. I don’t allow my memories to haunt my every thought, my every move. I do wish that they would. I feel like a sell-out because I’m not remembering every minute, every second those who perished. I wish that I could force myself to mourn openly. I remember touching the walls of the gas chamber at Auschwitz. I look at the stone I took from the ground at Auschwitz and I try to smash it between my fingers, but it is too strong, like the Nazis – completely indestructible. How did the survivors cope with survival? With a return to a world that would never understand what they endured, what they witnessed, and the pain they live with having lost everything and everyone they loved? These questions, and so many more, were just waiting to be answered. But there was a silver lining to the despair I was feeling. I knew that I would be heading back to Israel that summer. I was able to return to the one home where Jews are safe to be Jewish, unlike those who perished in the Holocaust. I fulfilled the old dream, the 2,000 year old dream. “The old dream of a return to a land where we could belong, where we could live free from the hatred and persecution that plagued our existence in Europe...For the Jews who perished, it is in their memory that we must cherish and protect our one and only Jewish State," said Dr. Elana Heideman Executive Director of The Israel Forever Foundation and Holocaust Educator. It was hard for me to comprehend this notion after visiting Israel from Poland as my mind was still closed to the hope, the happiness, the reality of Israel. That summer, I was able to break down the stone wall around my heart and let in the beauty, the hope and the reality of Israel. Tears for all the six million fell as I touched the Kotel (The Western Wall) and left a message asking all the questions needing answers. As I look back on my experience with The March of The Living, I wished there was a global community such as Virtual Citizen’s of Israel™ for all March of The Living alumni that I could have spoken to, listened to, shared my thoughts, my loneliness. Today I am proud to be a part of an organization that is reaching out to those who participated on The March of The Living, whether it was this year, 16 or 25 years ago. Now you can feel a sense of belonging with others who shared your experience and who long for a way to actualize the commitment to the memory of those who perished. Now, you can declare your pride and become a March of The Living Virtual Citizen of Israel™ and know that, together, we carry on a legacy the victims and survivors of the Holocaust would be proud of. Join us so that you too, can remember and reflect what these memories mean for those who did survive, and for us, the next generation who will carry on their legacy as their witness to the witness.

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From Darkness into Light: The Promise of Israel By Orli Kessel, 2013

By Orli Kessel  Arriving at the airport in Warsaw and preparing to board our El Al flight to Tel Aviv, I felt a sense of urgency. My desire to leave Poland and arrive home in Israel had reached a fever pitch. As we waited in line to clear security, all I could picture was boarding the flight and the wheels of the plane lifting off Polish ground. Finally, I was leaving – escaping the grey skies and damp, gnawing cold which had served as a fitting pathetic-fallacy for the emotional landscape we had travelled over the course of our six days spent in Poland. As I took my seat on the plane, I closed my eyes. It had been a week of excruciatingly long days filled with an overwhelming amount of information rife with emotional intensity -- I was exhausted. My eyes had been shut for less than a minute when the singing began. Startled, I turned around and found roughly 150 high-school age March of the Living participants from various cities and countries, arms around each other, singing ‘Oseh Shalom’ with what can only be described as joyful abandon. In that moment, the sleepless nights dissolved and without a moment’s pause, my fellow Young Adult MOTL participants and I joined in the song. Looking around, I noticed flight staff unable to hold back smiles as they half-heartedly encouraged us to sit down so that we could take off.  Ten minutes went by before we were all back in our seats and the fasten seatbelt light went on for takeoff. By Ron Shoshani Landing in Israel a few short hours later, again my heart swelled. Our group moved quickly through the empty arrival gate and I slipped outside into the arrivals parking lot of Ben Gurion Airport. The electric doors slid open and a rush of warm, humid air filled my lungs. I breathed in Israel, I was home. I sank down on a bench outside and could barely contain my euphoria. I know it’s not unusual to remember significant departures and arrivals. However, the reason these two moments stayed with me, and seem to have become so engrained in my consciousness, has less to do with the physical shifts that occurred and more to do with the emotional impact of the transition. Practically speaking, the act of leaving Poland and arriving in Israel can be understood from a purely geographical perspective. However, the mileage, climate and time zone have little real baring on the magnitude of the shift that occurred when I transitioned from one country to the other. It was expressed in varying ways many times during the March of the Living that the structure of this experience was intended to move us from “darkness into light”. I can’t imagine a more apt way of describing how it felt to transition from the ashes of Warsaw and Krakow and arrive in Israel to the shores of Tel Aviv and Haifa. To my eyes, fresh from the gas chambers of Auschwitz and the mass graves of the Lupachowa Forest, Jerusalem’s cobble stone streets had never looked more paved in gold or felt more hallowed. Now, home in Toronto, the time I spent in Israel after Poland has taken on new meaning. At the time, the transition felt like the only conceivable antidote to an emotional wound that had left me ravaged after 6 days spent entrenched in the atrocities of the Shoah. However, nearly a month out from the experience, I have come to see my time in Israel not only as the remedy that soothed me – but, more importantly, as a touchstone that I carry with me, regardless of where I am in the world. Like my ancestors before me wandering the Egyptian desert, while I was in Poland, the promise of Israel gave me hope and sustained me. Though I would never presume to speak for the prisoners of the Nazi death camps, I have heard from a number of survivors that even without any idea of what Israel was like; it was this notion of one day reaching the Promised Land that helped them to hold on day after day. Ultimately, what I have taken away from this particular trip is a simple truth; Israel is so much more than simply a place on the map. Among innumerable other things, Israel represents freedom from anti-Semitism, the promise of human dignity for all, hope for a better future and is, I believe, the soul of the Jewish people. Whether I am blessed to be standing in the Old City of Jerusalem or on the busy streets of Toronto, Israel is never far from my heart for I carry her with me wherever I am.

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Transformation in Poland By Raquel Binder, 2013

By Raquel Binder 44 young professionals from across North America began the journey from Toronto to Poland to learn abut the Holocaust through The March of The Living. We were fortunate to have with us Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter as we learned about Jewish life before, during, and after the war. I could not have predicted the impact this trip would have on my life. I originally signed up for this trip for personal reasons. My Bubby (Grandmother in Yiddish) on my father's side is a Holocaust survivor who rarely spoke about it. As a Holocaust Educator myself, I felt a responsibility to fill in the gaps of my family story in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of history. In the weeks leading up to the trip, my Bubby did share her story with me and I left for Poland with the mission of saying Kaddish (memorial prayer) for her sisters in Kielce. Coincidentally, my mother, maternal grandmother, and great-aunt were participating on the adult program, and it was very special to be able to share this experience. Upon arrival in Poland, we traveled to Warsaw. The weather plummeted to below zero and we stood outside in the middle of a snowstorm. This was a harsh yet poignant reminder of the conditions our ancestors survived through. Each day consisted of a celebration of Jewish life coupled with a memorial of death, both Jewish and non-Jewish. One day we began in a Tycochin synagogue where we sang, danced, and celebrated our presence. Next, we visited sites of mass graves and Treblinka (a death camp) where we saw the evidence of the murder of the Jews. At each site, we said Kaddish in an attempt to remember and provide an identity to those who perished. Pinchas, a survivor of Majdanek, told us pieces of his story throughout the trip and lead us through Majdanek. Majdanek is truly a place of horror, death, and destruction and yet we were guided by Pinchas with a triumphant smile on his face. As sad, sick and disgusted as I was, I felt proud to be there with Pinchas. His life mission is to educate future generations in order to prevent atrocities from ever happening again. He is living proof that the Nazis did not win. He is proof of survival. What was integral to this trip was sharing the experience with my peers. At night, the group stayed up late and had intense, intellectual conversations about the context of our experiences and what our responsibilities were as the 3rd generation. More importantly, we formed a strong community determined to protect the world around us. A high point of the trip was the March of the Living on April 8, where we marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau in solidarity with 10,000 Jews from around the world. Arm-in-arm, we showed the world that, not only did the Jewish people survive, but we are very much so thriving today. Walking out of Auschwitz, I found myself at the bottom of a path leading out of the camp. This was literally the road to freedom and we were lucky enough to be leaving. On that path, walking in my bubby's footsteps, I felt an undeniable call to action. Her story became my story. Her experience, and the experiences of everyone who suffered, became mine to understand and keep alive. At the end of the path lay the gates to freedom, and the key lay in my knowledge. With this knowledge, I returned home to Toronto unfortunately unable to participate in the Israel portion of the trip. Despite this shorter program, I left Poland with a greater connection to Israel than I’ve ever felt before. Walking through the camps, synagogues, and memorial sites, we were constantly presented with Israeli flags and Magen David stars. In one Warsaw church, I saw a sign in Hebrew saying “welcome to Warsaw, we love Israel.” As I toured the country and came face-to-face with the reality of Jewish struggles, the need and value of Israel became so much more important. We, as Jews, will always have a home in Israel. We will be accepted and welcomed, and this was a goal for which our ancestors fought so hard to accomplish. As young professionals, we are in a unique and vital position to protect the future. We are the last generation to have direct experiences with Holocaust survivors, and the first to have learned about Holocaust history and its impact on the future. Our job is to keep their memories alive, to remember the past in order to protect the future. As long as we live, and tell, then we can ensure that we never forget.  

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Video & Transcript: President Shimon Peres – Message – 2013 March of the Living Auschwitz-Birkenau on Yom Hashoah

My friends: There are marches which are measured by the length of the journey. There are marches which are measured by time. You are…

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‘We won’t be calmed,’ Peres tells March of Living participants

Participants in the March of the…

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