Poland: Refugees from Ukraine join March of the Living event at the memorial for the former Nazi death factory at Auschwitz

After a two-year break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, about 2 000 young people from different countries as well as several Holocaust survivors set out on the annual International March of the Living on 28 April. The event is held on the grounds of Auschwitz, the former Nazi extermination camp, which is now a memorial.

The journey of about 3.2 kilometers, beginning at the gate with the inscription “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Shall Set You Free”) at Auschwitz I and ending at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, was also made by several refugees from Ukraine who have been expelled from their home by Russia’s aggression. The march began with the sound of the Shofar, an instrument of Jewish ritual made from animal horn. 

Polish President Andrzej Duda also attended, assisting 95-year-old Edward Mosberg, who survived his own imprisonment and the murder of almost his entire family by the Nazis. The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper quoted a refugee from Ukraine named Vira who said she participated in the March of the Living to show her resistance to the cruelty of war: “Before the current war began my family and I got out of Ukraine, leaving Vinnycja and settling in Oświęcim.” 

This year’s March of the Living sent the message of the need to commemorate the atrocities of the Holocaust and educate future generations to pass on what is known about this history. The event has been held since 1988 on Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, which remembers the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.