WARSAW, Poland — Fifty Holocaust survivors from across the globe participated alongside thousands of others in Poland’s annual March of the Living ceremony Tuesday, commemorating the 6 million Jewish lives lost during Nazi Germany’s systematic genocide in World War II.
The survivors who attended included some who made the journey from Israel, according to event organizers, overcoming travel challenges created by airspace limitations related to ongoing regional conflicts.
Revital Yakin Krakovsky, who serves as deputy chief executive for the International March of the Living organization, expressed alarm about the persistence of antisemitism in modern times, despite historical lessons from the Holocaust.
“Since Oct. 7, anti-Semitism has surged and is spreading everywhere,” she said. “The scale and normalization of this hatred echoes the dark times we have seen before and, today of all days, we know how it ended.”
The ceremonial walk occurred on the Jewish calendar’s designated Holocaust Remembrance Day, starting at the Auschwitz memorial site and concluding at Birkenau, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) away. Birkenau was where European Jews were transported via railway and systematically murdered in gas chambers.
Participants included survivors from recent antisemitic violence, such as the December mass shooting that claimed 15 lives during a Hanukkah gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in Australia.
Hannah Abesidon, whose 78-year-old father Tibor Weitzen survived the Holocaust but was among the 15 victims killed in the Bondi Beach attack, shared her family’s tragic experience.
“My father didn’t make it because he was a Jew,” Abesidon said. “It starts with the Jews but it doesn’t end with the Jews.”
The commemorative march, now marking its 38th year, typically attracts thousands of attendees, including Holocaust survivors, Jewish students, community leaders, and political officials.
