WARSAW (EJP)---The commemoration of Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day on May 1, at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, will serve as the setting for the launch of a worldwide campaign aimed at ending genocide in all-forms.
A declaration, titled "March of the Living Pledge," will be signed onto by 10,000 of the participants in the 2008 "March of the Living," a special gathering at the concentration camp in southern Poland where over 1.5 million Jews were killed by the Nazis before the camp was liberated in January 1945.
More than six million European Jews were exterminated by the Nazis.
The declaration commits each individual, the majority of whom are 16-22 years old, "to fight every form of discrimination manifested against any religion, nationality or ethnic group…"
It adds: "After the Shoah the promise of 'Never Again' was proclaimed. We pledge to create a world where Never Again will become a reality for the Jewish people and, indeed, for all people. This is our solemn pledge to the Jewish people, to those who came before us, to those of our generation, and to those who will follow in future generations."
Founded in 1988, the "March of the Living" has brought over 150,000 people to Poland to serve as first-hand witnesses to the evil imposed by the Nazis and to educate themselves of the continued need to combat anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
According to the march organizers, "there is no setting on earth more appropriate to launch such a historic effort than the place that is the world's most infamous symbol of man's inhumanity to fellow man."
Thousands youngsters from around the world are expected to take part in the March of the Living ceremony. It will take place at 1:00 pm on May 1 and traces the 3-kilometer voyage from the concentration camp at Auschwitz to the adjacent complex at Birkenau where Jews were systematically murdered in giant gas chambers.
One-third of the march’s participants are non-Jewish, hailing from countries such as Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Japan and Morocco.
The symbolic march is held in commemoration of the death marches that took place when the Nazis began emptying the camps and forcing prisoners to walk hundreds of kilometres in freezing weather with little food. Thousands died and those who lagged behind or fell were shot.
As Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary, the Auschwitz ceremony will be led by Israel’s chief of staff, Brigadier General Gabi Ashkenazi.
From Poland, over 5,000 marchers will fly directly to Israel to attend in Jerusalem Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, and Yom Haatzmaut, the state's Independence Day.
