The fight against Antisemitism and the ongoing battle against Holocaust denial and trivialisation are one of the central objectives of March of the Living.

 

“We were convinced antisemitism perished here [in Auschwitz-Birkenau]. Antisemitism did not perish here. Its victims perished here,” said Elie Wiesel on Yom HaShoah 1990 during the International March of the Living in Poland.

 

Sadly, Elie Wiesel’s eloquent words, shared with March of the Living participants over three decades ago, are no less true today. They are more relevant than ever as antisemitism, Holocaust denial and trivialization, as well as the demonization of Israel, regularly dominate news cycles and give rise to a grave sense of insecurity among Jewish communities around the world. Only by acknowledging the reality of the past, and committing to heeding the lessons of the Holocaust, can we hope to build a world safe for all humanity, free of antisemitism and all forms of racism, bigotry, hatred and intolerance. With fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors able to share their story, there is a universal fear that history will re-write itself: “When there are no longer Holocaust survivors on earth, Holocaust deniers will sprout up like mushrooms” worries Israeli survivor Aliza Landau. And as the words of Auschwitz survivor Henry Appel so succinctly remind us: “There is only one thing worse than Auschwitz itself … and that is if the world forgets there was such a place.”