Young people from 50 countries, including a delegation from Morocco, accompany Israeli officials such as IDF Chief of Staff Eisenkot and Minister of Education Naftali Bennett for the 29th annual March of the Living.

YNet – More than 10,000 young people from around the world will take part in the 29th annual March of the Living on Monday, walking the three kilometers between Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland as a silent gesture to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices.

Participants are arriving from 50 countries, including Morocco, Panama, the United States and more.

Dozens of students from the Alliance School in Casablanca, Morocco made the journey to the Remah Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Krakow to meet with Minister of Education Naftali Bennett.

Student delegation from Morocco (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

“It is very important for us to come here and see what happened,” said the group’s teacher. “It strengthens me and my identity as a Jew.”

Naftali Bennett and March of the Living President, Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, meeting with students in Krakow (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

David, a student at the school, added, “We learned about the Holocaust in history class at school, and also the one that took place in Morocco. For us, it was important to come and represent our community.”

The march will be led by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yisrael Meir Lau, and Minister of Education Naftali Bennett.

Chief of Staff Eisenkot (Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

After leading the IDF delegation on a tour of the death camps on Sunday, Eisenkot wrote in the guest book, “This is my first visit on Polish soil as Chief of Staff to see the evil up close, a systematic murder machine of our people, and the great difficulty in comprehending it. The words ‘from the Holocaust to revival’ are of great importance, along with the understanding that only the advanced State of Israel with a powerful army can prevent similar incidents in the future.”

Eisenkot leading the IDF delegation (Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

The march will also prove to be personal for Minister Bennett, who will march while carrying a handmade piece of embroidery sent to his grandmother from an aunt who perished in the Holocaust. The piece of family history hangs in Bennett’s office.

“The embroidery came with the last letter sent from Poland to my grandmother. When the letters stopped, my grandmother realized that the worst had happened,” said Bennett.

Bennett posing with the family heirloom in Poland

Prior to the beginning of the march, 12 European education ministers from the EU will convene to discuss cooperation, with an emphasis on the challenge of continuing Holocaust education in a generation without survivors.

In a meeting with the ministers, Bennett said, “The big question is how we continue to talk about the Holocaust not in another 50 years, but in another 500 years. That is our mission. That is our responsibility.”

Originally published HERE