Survivor Speaker Series with Gabriella Y. Karin

International March of the Living continuing survivor speaker series with Gabriella Y. Karin was held on Thursday, January 20, 2022. Click on the video player below to watch the program.  Gabriella is a survivor of the Holocaust and has dedicated her life to Holocaust education as a docent and speaker worldwide. She has become an acclaimed sculptor through which she dramatically depicts the horrors of the Holocaust and hope for a more peaceful future. She is dedicated to educating young people in schools and has traveled with the BJE Los Angeles March of the Living delegation to Poland and Israel every year since 2012 and speaks to the students of her experience and encourages and advises them. WATCH ON YOUTUBE WATCH ON FACEBOOK

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View 360º Survivor Testimony on Location at Historical Sites in Partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation

The program captures and processes 360-degree testimonies on location with survivors at places critical to their stories. Recording survivors on location…

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Virtual Chanukah Journey through Israel with Julian Resnick

International March of the Living hosted virtual Chanukah journey through Israel with Julian Resnick which aired on December 1, 2021. Click on the video player to watch the program. Channukah is the quintessential Jewish holiday as its meaning has continually, over the centuries, been reinterpreted, according to the needs of the Jews celebrating. From the Chalutzim (pioneers) returning to the Land of Israel at the end of the 19th Century and looking for Jewish Heroes of the Muscular type to Adam Sandler on “Saturday Night Live” singing “Put on your yarmulke, here comes Hanukkah! So much fun-akah, to celebrate Hanukkah!”Or is there an essential meaning? We will wander around Israel with Julian Resnick, stopping eight times (for obvious reasons) to try and answer the question above and of course to have fun on an Israeli tiyul.Julian was born in South Africa and made Aliyah to Israel in 1976. He is a bit of a dinosaur, being a Kibbutz Member (almost a dying breed) and lives on Kibbutz Tzora with his (not lost) tribe of wife, children and six grandchildren. He has been involved in Education all his adult life and has three Shlichuyot to London. San Francisco and NYC under his belt.

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Exploring the Narrative of Holocaust and Genocide Education in the Public Arena with Dafna Michaelson Jenet, Colorado House of Representatives

On November 17, 2021 the International March of the Living hosted a lecture with member of the Colorado House of Representatives and March of the Living Alumna, Dafna Michaelson Jenet.Explore with Colorado State Representative Member and March of the Living Alum, Dafna Michaelson Jenet, how she created, and was recently successful, in passing a bill that has made Holocaust and Genocide Education mandatory in the state of Colorado. It is now a law in the state of Colorado, that in order to receive your HS diploma, you must complete Holocaust and Genocide Education.Dafna Michaelson Jenet is a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, representing District 30. She assumed office on January 11, 2017. Dafna is a March of the Alumna having attended the program in 1990 as a high school student and then went on to staff the program in both 1998 and 2000. She received her MBA from the University of Denver. Dafna’s professional experience includes co-founding and operating the nonprofit Journey Institute. She has served on the Adams County Youth Initiative board and has been a member of The Commerce City Quality Community Foundation, The Carson J. Spencer suicide prevention foundation, and Playworks Colorado.

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Let There Be Light: 2021 Kristallnacht Commemoration

International March of the Living and The Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience at Rutgers University presentLET THERE BE LIGHT: Stories of Hope and Humanity to Illuminate the DarknessThe program was simulcast on Tuesday, November 9, 2021 on the Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS), MOTL.org, Facebook Live & YouTube. 83 years ago, beginning on November 9th, 1938 – The Night of Broken Glass, over 7000 Jewish owned stores and synagogues were ransacked – their glass shattered all over the streets of Germany and Austria, and scores of Jews were murdered, and over 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps.During the most challenging of times, when evil and hatred seem to reign supreme, there have always been those whose light shines through the darkness, through their inspiring acts of courage and bravery. As we commemorate the events of Kristallnacht 1938, we honor the moral heroism and valor of those who resisted evil during the Holocaust and at other times of great mortal peril and danger to humanity.Through our program, Let There Be Light, which features stories of humanity at its best during the darkest of times, we hope to inspire others to act courageously and bravely in the face of evil and injustice. THE PROGRAM INCLUDES:Testimonies from survivors of Kristallnacht, from the USC Shoah FoundationIrwin Cotler, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Fighting anti-Semitism, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of CanadaJohn J. Farmer Jr., Director of the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience at Rutgers University, former Attorney General of New JerseyCarl Wilkens, American Christian Missionary and former head of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International in RwandaSpecial presentation to Paul Miller, Founder of the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience at Rutgers University, by Natan Sharansky, Human Rights Activist, Chair of ISGAP and Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial CenterMalcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish OrganizationsTali Nates, Founder and Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide CentreSheryl Sandberg, Facebook, COOJessica U. Meir PH.D., NASA AstronautMark Moskowitz and Jacque Altman, Second GenerationMusical guest Ani Djirdjirian, Actress and Armenian activist; Cantor Aviva RajskyModerated by Richard D. Heideman, Distinguished Attorney, Author and Human Rights ActivistIn cooperation with USC Shoah Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.“Let There Be Light” is an ongoing project of the International March of the Living. The Holocaust is not just a Jewish issue it is a universal issue. We must learn from the past, so that a more tolerant and just society will evolve for the betterment of all humankind. David Machlis Ph.D, Adelphi University and Vice Chairman of the International March of the Living

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Portraits of Moral Choices during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda: Stories of Perpetrators, Bystanders and Upstanders with Tali Nates

On October 27, 2021 the International March of the Living hosted a lecture with Historian Tali Nates as part of its continuing webinar series. In this talk, we will explore the moral choices that were made by people, groups and governments during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Tali will focus on stories of perpetrators, bystanders, upstanders and their effects on the victims and explore how you tell this complex history in a Holocaust & Genocide Museum.Tali Nates is the founder and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre and chair of the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation. She is a historian who lectures internationally on Holocaust education, genocide prevention, reconciliation and human rights. Tali has presented at numerous international conferences including at the United Nations (2016 & 2020). She published articles and contributed chapters to many books, among them God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors (2015), Remembering The Holocaust in Educational Settings (2018) and Conceptualizing Mass Violence, Representations, Recollections, and Reinterpretations (2021). In 2010, Tali was chosen as one of the top 100 newsworthy and noteworthy women in South Africa, by the Mail & Guardian. She won many awards including the Kia Community Service Award (South Africa, 2015) and the Agit Gratias Award (2020, Czech Republic). Tali serves on the Academic Advisory Group of the School of Social and Health Sciences, Monash University (IIEMSA), South Africa. She was one of the founders of the Holocaust and Tutsi Genocide Survivors groups in Johannesburg. Tali has served as a scholar for the International March of the Living since 2000. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, her father and uncle were saved by Oskar Schindler. The rest of the family was murdered.

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Southern Wall Excavations – Jewish life and the celebration of Sukkot in Jerusalem in the time of the Temple with Assaf Boker

The International March of the Living hosted a guided tour with Assaf Boker in our continuing webinar series on September 23, 2021.Sukkot is one of the three pilgrimage Jewish holidays where hundreds of thousands of our ancestors have ascended to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday and to feel part of the Jewish collective. How many of these traditions associated with the pilgrimage continue to be part of our Jewish rituals today? More than what you may expect! Join us in an eye opening virtual tour to the Southern Wall Excavations aka The Davidson Center. In our tour we walked through the traditional pilgrimage rituals through visiting different corners of the Davidson Center and learned together how some of our Jewish rituals were shaped in this very place!Assaf Boker is a first-class Israeli tour guide who brings a fresh perspective to the Middle East by combining personal experiences with a talent for educating the inquisitive traveler. Growing up with a father who was a career diplomat, Assaf has spent most of his childhood outside Israel in different countries across Europe. As a result of his childhood, he has developed two major passions – meeting new people and teaching about Israel.Assaf Boker served in the IDF as the commander of a combat intelligence unit deployed in the Gaza envelope region. After finishing his service, Assaf followed his passion for teaching about Israel and worked for three summers in Camp Ramah in California, a Jewish summer camp, as an educator.Assaf holds a BA from the Hebrew University with a double major in political science and international relations and an MA from Haifa University in Middle Eastern Studies. For the past six years, he has been working as a licensed tour guide introducing Israel to a large spectrum of groups.

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Private Tour of the Y.A. Fine Art Gallery in Jerusalem

On August 25, 2021 the International March of the Living hosted a private tour of the Y.A. Fine Art Gallery in Jerusalem, featuring March of the Living alumni and gallery founders, Yehoshua Aryeh and Jordyn Stauber. Yehoshua Aryeh and Jordyn Stauber met during the 2015 March of the Living and the rest, as they say, is history. Three years later they married and moved to Israel – traveling the land with Yehoshua’s camera and keen photographic eye. The dream to show Eretz Yisrael’s beauty and diversity, through Yehoshua’s photographs, culminated in the creation of the Y.A. Fine Art Gallery in Jerusalem. Join Yehoshua and Jordyn as they invite us for a virtual tour of their gallery and see Israel in a whole new lens.Jordyn Katz and Yehoshua Stauber met while participating on the 2015 March of the Living with the Broward Delegation. After Jordyn’s graduation from the University of Pennsylvania and Yehoshua’s from Yeshiva University, the young couple married, made Aliyah and in keeping with Yehoshua’s passion and skill as an avid and accomplished photographer, opened the Y.A. Fine Art Gallery in Jerusalem. Their presentation includes a reflection of the importance of their March experience and a tour of their captivating gallery as well as an explanation of his photographs and the meaning of how they not only capture the physical beauty of the Land of Israel, but how they reflect the inner beauty of her soul.Learn more about the Stauber’s by reading their March of the Living Alumni Spotlight here.  VISIT YA FINE ART WEBSITE BUY THE LAND OF LIFE BOOK YA FINE ART FACEBOOK YA FINE ART INSTAGRAM

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The Destruction of the Lithuanian Jews – The Ponary Massacre with Jacob Shoshan

From June 1941 to July 1944, over 75,000 people, mostly Jews, were brought to Ponary, a once idyllic forested area located south of Vilna, and brutally shot and buried in open pits thus creating Lithuania’s largest mass grave.Join Jacob Shoshan, esteemed and highly sought-after International March of the Living guide and historian for a compelling account of the destruction of the Lithuanian Jewish community and the description of what occurred during the Ponary Massacre.Jacob was born in Jerusalem, and is a licensed tour guide, a teacher and lecturer for Tour Guide College – Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and Everyman’s University, Tel Aviv. Jacob is also a Senior Tour Director & Lecturer for the Geographical Society, Israel. He has visited 107 countries and led tours in 66 countries on all 6 continents. He is fluent in many languages and presents in-depth discussions on Jewish History, Philosophy and Culture. His background covers Holocaust Studies, Sephardi Jewish Heritage and Jewish Musicology.

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Briefing on the Rising Tide of Antisemitism with Dr. Michael Berenbaum

On June 30, 2021 the International March of the Living held a Global briefing of the current rising tide of Antisemitism with world renowned scholar and historian, Dr. Michael Berenbaum. The program was moderated by Eli Rubenstein, Educational Director of the International March of the Living.To watch the program, click on the video player below.  Michael Berenbaum is a writer, lecturer and teacher consulting in the conceptual development of museums and development of historical films. He is the Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust and a Professor of Jewish Studies at the American Jewish University and the author and editor of 20 books, scores of scholarly articles, and hundreds of journalistic pieces. Michael was also the Executive Editor of the Second Edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. He was Project Director overseeing the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the first Director of its Research Institute and later served as President and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which took the testimony of 52,000 Holocaust survivors in 32 languages and 57 countries. His work in film has won Emmy Awards and Academy Awards.

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