The importance of the March of the Living – analysis

Aristotle once famously noted “educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” The March of the Living seeks to accomplish both.

Over the past three decades, nearly 300,000 participants from communities around the world – Jews and non-Jews, students and adults, Holocaust survivors, educators, dignitaries, liberators and Righteous Among the Nations – have marched together through the entrance gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau on the International March of the Living. They come to bear witness to the unfathomable scale and abhorrent systematic evil that took place at the Nazi German death camps.

They come to learn about the rich Jewish heritage and history which once pervaded the land and to visit the cities and towns that were once bustling with Jewish life. Most importantly, however, they come to remember and pay homage to six million lost ancestors.

For the past two years, due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the March of the Living journey to Poland has not been able to be held in person. Twenty thousand living witnesses, who hoped and planned to pay their final respects to the victims who perished on those hallowed grounds, instead experienced the March online behind computer screens.

It is our fervent hope that the messages and lessons of the Holocaust projected online were clear and that through the myriad programs available, our viewers’ awareness was heightened, and their hearts motivated to engage in acts of social responsibility in pursuit of ‘Never Again.’ While, of course, we encourage and appreciate any and all forms of Holocaust education wherever and however such education occurs, we also clearly understand the impact of the physical experience. The value of personal on-site visitation is simply irreplaceable.

As it has been said many times, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The visuals of the sites of death and destruction imposed on its victims by the Nazi German regime defy the imagination and leave an indelible impression. The opportunity to learn about the past in the actual places history unfolded is a powerful and unparalleled experiential educational journey.

The long-standing commitment and motivation of the International March of the Living has always been its dedication to memory and education. Our collaborative efforts with members of the Polish Government and leading Polish academic institutions over the last three decades have enabled us to ensure that the next generation – regardless of their background – can learn about the dangers of intolerance, antisemitism, bigotry and all forms of baseless hatred in a most meaningful and constructive way. We are on the ground in the cities, towns, shtetls and at the sites themselves.

Three decades of education have also afforded us the opportunity to remember, reflect and honor our communal past. A living past provides for a meaningful present and hope for the future. It is the responsibility of each generation to remember those who came before and upon whose legacy we build for the future.

Furthermore, participants visiting Poland see more than just sites of genocide and suffering. They witness a thousand years of Jewish history.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, students from around the world, including a large Polish students group, march side by side, in a joint affirmation of hope for a brighter future.

For all of the above reasons and more, we believe that student visits to Poland by the next generation of Jewish and non-Jewish participants alike on trips like the March of the Living are constructive educational experiences of lasting impact. The lessons of the Holocaust are universal and enormously important for all societies to appreciate, and that understanding is assuredly heightened by personal on-site visits by both the student and the adult.

Let us not deprive the next generation of the opportunity to honor the memory of their ancestors at their final resting places even as they prepare to protect the future for all. The future can only benefit.