“WORLD, OPEN YOUR EYES”

Holocaust Survivors Refuse to Be Silenced. This Year They Will March on the March of the Living Against Antisemitism

(Photo: Chen Schimmel)

As the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2026, Holocaust survivors, witnesses and educators are issuing a stark warning. Antisemitism, they say, is no longer confined to the margins but is spreading openly and aggressively across societies worldwide. Their fear is not for themselves, but for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and for a world that appears increasingly deaf and blind to the dangers ahead.

Eighty-one years after the Holocaust, those who survived humanity’s darkest chapter are speaking with renewed urgency. Proud of their Jewish identity and refusing to be silenced, they fear that history is not a closed chapter.

On the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 14, 2026, they will march in the March of the Living, placing their faith in the power of education to teach the next generation where unchecked hatred can lead.

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THE RISE OF ANTISEMITISM

Ahead of International Remembrance Day, three Holocaust survivors, Eva Kuper, Rosette Goldstein and Sami Steigmann, reflected on the current wave of antisemitism, describing it as deeply alarming and disturbingly familiar.

Eva Kuper (Photo: Ziv Koren)

Eva Kuper (85) was born in Poland in 1940 and survived the war by escaping the Warsaw Ghetto through the sewers, spending years in hiding, including in a convent. After the war, she lived as a non-Jew in Poland before immigrating to Canada. Today she lives in North America and is a lifelong educator and Holocaust witness, committed to dialogue, education and intergenerational responsibility.

“I am plagued by thoughts of history repeating itself. Since October 7, 2023, I have been unable to escape the sense that the world is sliding backward. What frightens me most is not only the violence itself, but the world’s response.”

Rosette Goldstein (Photo: Courtesy)

Rosette Goldstein (86) was born in Paris, France. Before deportation her father asked a farm family in the small town if they would hide her. “I was three and half years old, but I remember everything. I remember the loneliness and how frightened I was. I have devoted much of my time to Holocaust education in honor of my father, who died in Buchenwald, five days before liberation.”

For Rosette, the hatred never disappeared – it simply stopped hiding. “The hatred of Jews has never subsided, but now it is no longer hidden.”

Sami Steigmann (Photo: Brian Marcus)

Sami Steigmann (85) was born in 1939 in Bukovina (then Romania). As a child, he was deported with his parents to Transnistria, where he was subjected to Nazi medical experimentation and survived extreme hunger and abuse. After the war, he immigrated to Israel, served in the Israeli Air Force, and later settled in the United States, dedicating his life to Holocaust education.

Sami says that antisemitism is like a virus that can’t be eradicated: “Bigotry, Bullying, Jew Hatred, Hate, Racism, the Ideology. Once people are indoctrinated it is almost impossible to bring them to critical thinking. Things will get worse before they get better.”

Antisemitism, the survivors say, is no longer abstract, it is personal and present. Kuper recounts how antisemitic language has even reached her family. “It happened during an argument with a neighbor about my family’s dog barking. A neighbor who had previously had an OK relationship with us called my grandson a ____Jew as an insult.”

Rosette Goldstein says she has encountered antisemitism indirectly, through conversations that no longer bother to hide prejudice.

For Steigmann, antisemitism crossed from rhetoric into reality when his invitation to speak at a school was canceled because of his views on Israel. Public outrage followed, leading to intervention by then–New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The decision was reversed.

“The reversal of the Principal’s decision is a complete victory,” Steigmann declared.

“….WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!”

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FEAR FOR THE NEXT GENERATIONS

Despite everything they endured during the Holocaust, the survivors emphasize that their deepest fear today is not for themselves.

Students standing on the train tracks in Birkenau during the March of the Living. (Photo: Courtesy March of the Living Canada)

“The survivors are not afraid for themselves,” Kuper explains. “Our concern lies with our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, if the current trend continues.” Rosette Goldstein echoes that concern: “I am not afraid for myself, but I am afraid for my two little great-grandchildren and another one on the way.”

The survivors agree: the world has failed to fully learn, or act on, the lessons of the Holocaust.

“We hear the right words,” Kuper warns, “but we do not see the will, the outrage or the actions needed.”

Goldstein’s message is direct: “World, open your eyes. We Jews are human beings just like you. Do not repeat history – learn from it.”

JEWISH PRIDE: STANDING FIRM AGAINST HATRED

None of the survivors have chosen to hide their Jewish identity.

“We cannot be cowed into hiding,” Kuper insists. “I wear a small Magen David necklace while accompanying students on a March of the Living journey to Poland and Israel. I have worn it often. Also, I have not only NOT STOPPED attending services at my synagogue and other Jewish events but have done so with greater frequency and persistence.”

Goldstein and Steigmann are equally defiant:

“We have not changed our way of life”.

Rosette Goldstein speaking to students on the March of the Living (Photo: Courtesy)

EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE.

All agree that Holocaust education is essential.

“The March of the Living program, as I’ve experienced it, enables people and especially Teens, to experience the atrocities and remnants of the HOLOCAUST first-hand. My mission in life is to educate the next generation. One of the greatest experiences that I had, was speaking to 2nd graders. They stayed with me for over an hour and half and asked better questions than the teenagers. Do not underestimate the intelligence of very young children” Steigmann added.

For Kuper, personal testimony is irreplaceable.

“There is also the undeniable fact that we are in the last moments of having firsthand testimony…. Holocaust survivors are an “endangered species”. We have only a brief time to “bear personal witness” and as Elie Wiesel often said that once a person has heard a direct testimony from a survivor, they become witnesses as well and take on the obligation, the duty and the responsibility of passing on the lessons.”

Goldstein calls education the strongest weapon against hatred: “Education is our strongest tool.”

HOPE: YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL

Despite the darkness, hope remains.

“Our young people give me hope,” Kuper says. “Hope is not passive – we must act on it.”

For Goldstein, hope is inseparable from Jewish sovereignty:

“Israel is our only hope. During the Shoah we had no country, no army, no way to fight back. Now we do.”

“AM ISRAEL CHAI!”