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Let there be Light Projections in Jerusalem & the UK (2020)
International March of the Living Kristallnacht Commemoration projected on the Old City Walls of Jerusalem and Coventry Cathedral in the UK Help us send the message to the world, help…
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The Hampton Synagogue Kristallnacht Commemoration (2020)
On the eve of the 82nd anniversary of Kristallnacht – The Night of Broken Glass – International March of the Living World Chairman and CEO, Dr. Shmuel Rosenman, participated…
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Presidents of Germany, Austria, and Israel say LET THERE BE LIGHT (2020)
“Eighty-two years, and the dark shadows of the past have not disappeared from our streets.” The Presidents of Germany, Austria, and Israel stand together in a joint call against…
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Alumni Spotlight: Joana Kirsch (’19), Costa Rica
Joana Kirsch (Costa Rica ’19), EducatorThis week we are proud to feature Joana Kirsch (’19), alumna from the Costa Rican Adult delegation, whose experience on the March of the Living inspired her to pursue a career in early childhood education, where she helps instill a love for the Jewish people and Jewish heritage among her students on a daily basis. I traveled with the March of the Living Costa Rican Adult Delegation in 2019. I experienced the March of the Living as a married woman, and as a mom of three, making this journey vastly unique. For many years prior to the trip, I had wrongly believed that traveling to the concentration camps was superfluous since I had already attended a Jewish day school and had learned about the Holocaust in depth. Boy was I wrong! Being in Poland was entirely different than learning about the Holocaust through books and movies. By visiting the different shtetls, synagogues and camps and learning from our extremely knowledgeable guide about all facets of WWII, I was moved to heights that I never believed possible. Even prior to the trip, I was active in my Jewish community by volunteering for WIZO and for my children’s Jewish day school, Scheck Hillel Community School, in my current home state of Florida, but this trip strengthened my resolve to do so even further. Upon my return, I was offered a position as an early childhood educator at the aforementioned Jewish school, and I knew instantly that this was how I could do my small part in ensuring Jewish continuity. Daily as a teacher, I think about the struggles that the people who endured the Holocaust navigated in order to guarantee the survival of the Jewish nation. This motivates me to instill in my students a love for their people and their heritage even at their young age. Overall, I value life so much more now than I did before the March of the Living, and I am especially grateful for the freedom of religion and speech that we enjoy today.
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Telling the Story through Art: Holocaust Art as a Primary Source
In our continuing webinar series, the International March of the Living hosted a lecture October 29, 2020 with Holocaust Educator Liz Elsby. Focusing on individual artworks, Elsby demonstrated how exploring the artistic aspects of each painting, together with the context in which they were created and the questions they raise, combine to deepen our understanding of the Holocaust as a human event.(Click on the video player below to watch the full program) Liz Elsby made Aliya from the United States in 1984 and has worked for Yad Vashem as a Holocaust educator and museum guide since 2006. She guides educational groups in Poland, Prague, Terezin and Berlin for various organizations including March of the Living, as well as teaches about the Holocaust to teachers in the United States through Yad Vashem and Echoes and Reflections. When Liz is not guiding or teaching, she continues her own learning. She traveled to Vilna to enrich her knowledge of both pre-war and present-day Jewish Life. In 2016, she participated in a five-day course to become an accredited guide in the Polin Museum in Warsaw.Liz is also an illustrator and children’s book author. She is currently illustrating both a children’s book she wrote about pre-war Krakow, and a book of the poems of the child poet, Hanus Hachenberg, which he wrote while imprisoned in Terezin.To view and download the list of artwork featured in Liz’s presentation, please click here.
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Alumni Spotlight: Robin Ashleigh (’15-‘19), United Kingdom
Robin Ashleigh (United Kingdom ’15-‘19 ), Marcher, Leader, EducatorThis week we are proud to feature Robin Ashleigh, an alumnus from March of the Living UK. Since first attending the program in 2015, Robin has made the March of the Living a priority, returning as bus leader and soon, as lead educator. My journey with MOTL UK began when I participated on the programme as a young adult in 2015. Even though I had grown up very involved in the Jewish community, I had never been to Poland and, until this point, I had never prioritised my own learning about the Holocaust in any great depth. The week I spent in Poland had a profound and lasting effect on me. My educator helped me to appreciate the rich Jewish history that existed before the Holocaust. At the sites of the Jewish ghettos and Nazi death camps, the expertly prepared programme, and the opportunity to memorialise and reflect, deepened my understanding of such a dark chapter of history. The survivors I met taught me so much about the events of the past and, more importantly, I was inspired by their positive outlook and message of responsibility for the future. This message has stayed with me, and has motivated me to further my own knowledge so I can educate others. After my first MOTL experience in 2015, I knew there was so much more I wanted to learn, and so much more I could contribute, so I started volunteering my time. I got involved in events to fundraise and recruit participants for the programme, and since then the March of the Living has become a much bigger part of my life. I have returned to volunteer as a Bus Leader, and on the next March will serve as a lead guide and educator. Making this important experience happen for so many other participants has been a very worthwhile and rewarding journey. I’ve been lucky to learn from so many great educators over the years, so I decided that training as an educator was the logical next step for me so that I can really give back, and hopefully start others off on a similar journey to my own. This is a huge responsibility, but it is also an honour that was made possible by my initial MOTL experience, and the subsequent investment in me, without which my development as an educator would have been impossible. Now, I hope to help many more Jewish people connect with their own heritage, and live out their lives in a way that is faithful to their Jewish values. As Elie Wiesel says, “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness”. MOTL has made this possible for me, and for thousands of others who have participated and will participate in the life-changing programme.
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Alumni Spotlight: Bryna Sherman Miller (’88), Cincinnati, USA
Bryna Sherman Miller (Ohio ’88), First Generation MarcherThis week we are proud to feature Bryna Sherman Miller, an alumna from the very first March of the Living in 1988. She made it her mission to share her life-changing experience with family, friends and strangers to educate them about the horrors of the Holocaust. That promise came full circle when she sent her daughter, Sammi Miller, as a second-generation Marcher on the program in 2019. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as a US delegate of the inaugural MOTL in 1988. We were a relatively small group (around 1500 worldwide) compared to the over 10,000 who now attend each year. The week we spent in Poland was chilling (literally and figuratively). To a 16-year-old who had only learned about the Holocaust during religious school and from survivors, this was an eye-opening experience and one that remains with me to this day 32 years later. Walking through the gates of Auschwitz and into the barracks and gas chambers brought this devastating period to life. Witnessing how close the concentration camps were located to cities of Polish citizens, many who turned a blind eye or claimed they had no idea what was happening, was maddening. Wearing our blue windbreakers and waving our Israeli flags while proudly marching through snow flurries arm in arm from Auschwitz to Birkenau showed the world that we stand together and will never again let anyone try to destroy our people. Attending a memorial service in Warsaw to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising taught us the true meaning of never giving up. Perhaps the most memorable event of the entire trip for me occurred in Warsaw after the Memorial service. We were introduced to Irena, a Righteous Gentile who acted as an up-stander and helped save many Jewish lives. She spoke with us through an interpreter and entrusted us with her medal to bring back to the states to display in the Holocaust museum. Looking back on the newspaper articles and press about this trip in 1988, I was quoted as saying I planned to share this experience with my family, friends and strangers to educate them on the horrors of the Holocaust. As a teenager, I spoke to local Jewish and community organizations as well as in the public schools. I continued that mission teaching the Holocaust at religious school during my college years and now through my involvement with the Cincinnati Holocaust and Humanities Center. A proud moment that made this experience come full circle was supporting my daughter as she attended the 2019 MOTL with the Cincinnati delegation. From generation to generation, we remember!
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MOTL Statement on Facebook Hate Speech Policy
International March of the Living applauds the decision by Facebook to expand its policy and prohibit any content that denies or distorts the…
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Alumni Spotlight: Tsutomu Matsumoto (’16), Japan
Tsutomu Matsumoto (Japan ’16), MusicianThis week we are proud to feature Tsutomu Matsumoto, who, along with his rock band, Night de Light, attended the March of the Living with Bridges for Peace Japan in 2016. Tsutomu, a devout Christian, was truly inspired by his experience in both Poland and Israel. Upon returning to Japan, he, along with his band, have continued to spread their love for the State of Israel and for the Jewish people as well as messages of hope through their music to fans around the globe. As a devout Christian, it has been my dream to visit Israel with my band. In 2016, not only did my dream come true, but we also had the opportunity to join the March of the Living in Poland. During my time at Auschwitz, we learned about the atrocities that took place, and what I saw shook me to my core. Though time has passed, I can still feel and see vivid traces of each and every person. Bundles of hair on the floor, shoes, glasses; each of these things belonging to a person who had a life, a family. What I had witnessed was a painful and sorrowful testimony of the Jewish people. While marching among them, I felt a colossal gap between what I saw, and my reality. What can I take from this tremendous experience, and how can I apply it to my life? As someone who had the privilege to take part in this, what are the responsibilities and the expectations that I will now bear? Will I be able to stand against such terrors should they happen in the future? These are some of the questions that I reflected on as we made our way to Israel. At the peak of our tour in Israel, we had the honor to perform at Israel’s Independence Day ceremony. On stage, we shouted, “We will stand with Israel. We want to serve this Nation.” We poured our heart, our soul, our passion into our song, and what arose in our hearts changed our lives. It was then that we devoted ourselves to spreading the message of hope through our music with a strong heart of compassion, and love for Israel and her people. To this day we continue to sing to the people in Japan, and share with them the life changing experience we had in Israel. In February 2020, we stood in front of 900 people, many of whom knew little to nothing about Jewish people and Israel, and talked about the March of the Living. It has been 4 years since, yet our hearts remain the same. To be a bridge between Israel and Japan – this is our passion. Our Hope.
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