32ND MARCH OF THE LIVING
Auschwitz Memorial
On 24 April 2025, the 32nd March of the Living took place on the grounds of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. Leading the approximately 8,000 participants was a group of around 80 Survivors of Auschwitz and the Holocaust, as well as the Presidents of Poland and Israel: Andrzej Duda and Isaac Herzog.
Before the march, the Presidents laid wreaths at the Death Wall in the former Auschwitz I camp to commemorate all the victims of the camp, visited the "Shoah" exhibition in Block 27, and participated in a meeting with Polish and Israeli youth.
President Andrzej Duda described the march as a special demonstration: "Firstly of life, secondly of remembrance, but also a dramatic call of ‘never again’: never again hatred, never again chauvinism, never again antisemitism."
"It is unacceptable to remain silent in the face of any manifestations of hatred between nations, or any manifestations of racial or ethnic hatred. Because if hatred is met with silence, the ultimate effect can be what happened here, what was done by the Germans here during World War II when, driven by ethnic hatred and a wild lust for destruction, they attempted to erase the Jewish nation from humanity," emphasized Andrzej Duda.
"Of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, three million were Polish citizens. This is an incomprehensible number. Within six years, practically the entire Jewish community on the territory of Nazi-occupied Poland, one of the greatest Jewish communities in the world, was destroyed. Both my wife and I are descendants of this community," said Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
"I believe that our presence in this sacred place reflects our commitment to walk together into the future, drawing strength from the memory of the past. The resumption of youth delegations from Israel traveling to Poland is a very important step that highlights how deeply we wish to jointly teach future generations the significance of unity and fraternity between nations," he added.
This year’s march was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of the German Nazi camps, including Auschwitz.
It also coincided with the 10th anniversary of the death of Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, a Survivor of Auschwitz, who as Chairman of the International Auschwitz Council was one of the main architects of the international consensus on the preservation and future of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. In 2009, he became a Founding Donor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, aimed at preserving the authenticity of the site and its remains.
Among the approximately 8,000 participants — mainly young Jews from nearly 50 countries, along with a several hundred-strong group of Polish students — was Merrill Eisenhower, great-grandson of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces who oversaw the liberation of many concentration camps.
After passing through the "Arbeit macht frei" gate, participants of the March of the Living walked from the grounds of the former Auschwitz I camp to Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
The main ceremony of the March of the Living took place at the monument commemorating the victims of the camp, located near the ruins of gas chambers and crematoria II and III. Due to weather conditions, it was significantly shortened. Those gathered at the former camp recited, among other prayers, the Kaddish — the Jewish prayer for the dead.
Many participants left many wooden plaques with the names of the murdered, symbolizing Jewish gravestones — matzevot — throughout the site. Some were placed on the tracks at the ramp where SS doctors carried out selections of Jews deported to Auschwitz for extermination from many occupied European countries.
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