Australians march to remember the Shoah
THE local March of the Living (MOTL) contingent will arrive in Israel on April 16, following a week-long program in Poland coinciding with Yom Hashoah.
THE local March of the Living (MOTL) contingent will arrive in Israel on April 16, following a week-long program in Poland coinciding with Yom Hashoah.
Representing Australia and New Zealand, 95 year 11 students, including the first participant from Canberra, embarked on the march between death camps Auschwitz and Birkenau on Monday.
There was a slight difference to the march this year, with participants wearing black armbands in memory of the Polish President and ministers killed in a plane crash last weekend.
Three Holocaust survivors, Max Zilberman and Rita and Bill Ross, accompanied the group, all joining participating grandchildren.
“This year marks the 10th anniversary of Australia’s participation on MOTL. This year’s march will pay tribute to the strength, courage and dignity of Holocaust survivors Max Zilberman and Rita and Bill Ross,” director Sue Hampel said.
As it is every year, the week in Poland was a roller-coaster of emotions, which included trips to concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, Belzec and Plaszow, as well as time spent in the cities of Cracow, Lodz, Lublin, Lancut, Tarnow and Warsaw.
The week culminated on Monday, when the group, joined by Polish university students, participated in the march on Yom Hashoah.
They were joined by the South African contingent for the official ceremony in Birkenau.
It wasn’t only history they discovered in the Eastern European country, with the Australians being introduced to the Jewish revival movement and spending time with Polish-Jewish students and Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
DALIA SABLE
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