The annual March of the Living took place in Auschwitz, Poland on Monday. It is a 3.5 kilometer long march between the concentration camp Auschwitz and the extermination camp Auschwitz-Brzezinka, in memory of more than a million Jews who perished there during the war. This year, it was also attended by some Holocaust survivors who survived the rampages of Hamas in Israel. This year, however, protesters shouting slogans about a free Palestine also gathered at the place of the march. The organizer of the March of Lives commented on the protesters’ actions as a “perverse opportunity for hatred”. For example, an Israeli journalist informs https://twitter.com/indianaftali/status/1787490437596418090.
Israelis commemorate the day of the victims of the Holocaust on Nisan 27, i.e. during the first month of the biblical calendar, in the Gregorian calendar, the beginning of this month usually falls on March or April. At this time, the March of the Living is also regularly held in Auschwitz. This year for the first time https://twitter.com/indianaftali/status/1787490437596418090 also eighty-six-year-old Bella Haim. “I never looked much into the past, and I certainly didn’t want to look here,” Bella Haim told the Times of Israel. She changed her mind when her grandson Yotam Haim died last December. He was accidentally shot by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip when he managed to escape from the captivity of Hamas.
It was precisely because of the war in Gaza that many witnesses of the rampages of Hamas took part in the annual march this year to remember their ancestors. However, several dozen young people watched the memorial march to support the Palestinians. Palestinian flags and demonstrators also appeared around the road that the march passed through. According to witnesses, the protesters shouted at the marchers. The marchers responded by singing Am Israel chai.
The organizers of the commemorative event also commented on the demonstrators. “Today we marched to give a voice to the six million victims of the Nazi industrial genocide of the Jews. We marched with the survivors of the Nazi crimes together with the survivors of the crimes of Hamas and with the families of those still in captivity. Half a dozen protesters who perversely saw this moment as an opportunity to hate towards Israel and Jews, serves as a reminder of how important it is to remember and teach about the Holocaust and the dangers of extremism and hatred,” the organizers said.
Journalist India Naftali also participated in the March of the Living. She described chanting about free Palestine as disgusting, because Jewish people remembered the six million murdered and millions more dead of other nationalities who were responsible for the German Nazi regime.
The March of the Living was already in its 36th year in Auschwitz. Thousands of people participate in it every year. The commemoration of the victims of the Shoah is one of the most important significant days in Israel. Regular life in Israel comes to a standstill for a few minutes at the sound of sirens. Sirens sounded again today and traffic stopped on the streets and roads, pedestrians stopped and drivers got out of their cars. From 11:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. local time (10:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. CET), the names of the victims of the Holocaust were read at the Yad Vashem memorial and in the parliament. There are also ceremonies throughout the day at memorials across the country and in schools.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is celebrated on January 27, when Marshal Koněv liberated Auschwitz. Since the 1950s, the State of Israel has been celebrating Holocaust Memorial Day on Nisan 27, so the holiday falls between two other very important days, namely Passover and Israel’s Independence Day, when the State of Israel was founded in 1948.
Tags: Supporters Palestine shouted Jews Auschwitz Perverse Opportunity Hate
