The March of the Living is an annual educational program, which brings students from all over the world to Poland, in order to study the history of the Holocaust and to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate. Since the first March of the Living was held in 1988, over 150,000 youth from around the world have marched down the same path leading from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Its aim is to impart the lessons of the Holocaust, celebrate the history of Jewish survival and instill a passion for social justice.
Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and former US Ambassador to Austria will be participating in this year’s International March of the Living in recognition of its 25th anniversary. Ambassador Lauder will be joining 10,000 high school students, Israeli officials and Holocaust survivors at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on Monday, April 8, 2013 to memorialize the millions of men, women and children who lost their lives just because they were Jewish.
This memorable journey starts in Poland just prior to Yom HaShoah-Holocaust Memorial Day-and continues in Israel where participants honor Israel’s fallen soldiers on Yom Hazikaron—Israel’s Memorial Day, and celebrate Israel’s Independence on Yom Ha’Atzmaut.
Ambassador Lauder who has been involved with the March of the Living since its inception in 1988 recalled an earlier visit to the infamous Nazi death camp saying that “nothing I saw prepared me for Auschwitz. For the first time, I truly understood not only the Holocaust but also what it was like to be a Jew in pre-war Europe. My involvement with the March of the Living continues to be a most rewarding and gratifying experience, because it creates hope for a Jewish future among a new generation of young Jews.”
It is this reality of past and future Jewish life that drove Ambassador Lauder to become one of this generation’s most visionary philanthropists. He has, singlehandedly, rebuilt Jewish life in a part of Europe once ravaged by the destruction of the Holocaust and stifled by decades of oppressive Communist rule. The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation has established Jewish day schools, synagogues, summer camps, youth centers, student exchange programs and institutions of higher learning in more than a dozen countries.
By doing so, Ambassador Lauder created hope for a Jewish future among a new generation of young Jews eager to embrace their ancient and hallowed faith, identity and heritage.
For the first time in its 25 year history, this year’s ceremonies will be broadcast Live. Solemn and uplifting musical interludes will be performed throughout the ceremony emphasizing the themes of prayer, resistance, remembrance and hope and in honor of the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Jewish soul-singer, Neshama Carlebach, will be participating. Neshama Carlebach first took part in the March of the Living in 1997, and has been actively involved with the organization ever since.
The program will be led by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo and will also include a message from Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Rabbi Lau, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel and current Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, was himself a child survivor of the Holocaust. Joining him on the podium will be Jewish leader and philanthropist Frank Lowy of Australia, a Holocaust survivor whose father perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Also speaking to the participants will be Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Benny Gantz.
To close the program, six torches will be lit, each reflecting a theme that will pay tribute to the 6,000,000 lives lost:
• to those who risked their lives saving Jews during the Holocaust
• to the survivors who picked up the pieces of their shattered world and began life anew
• to the rabbis, scholars, teachers and their students who perished
• to the 1.5 million innocent Jewish children who were murdered by the Nazis
• to the second generation who never had the privilege of knowing or loving their grandparents
• to the celebration of the establishment of the State of Israel
In lighting one of the six torches, Ambassador Lauder will memorialize the 1,100,000 victims, mainly Jews, who entered Auschwitz but only left as ashes through chimney stacks.
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