Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to Poland on Thursday to lead this year’s March of the Living at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. The march commemorates the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps and the end of World War II.
Held annually on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, the event will this year feature 80 Holocaust survivors aged 80 to 97, including survivors of multiple camps as well as children who were hidden during the war. They will be accompanied by an Israeli delegation, including ten hostages recently freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza, along with bereaved families, relatives of hostages still being held, victims of terrorism, and representatives of Israel’s high-tech sector.
The freed hostages participating in the march are Agam Berger, Hagar Brodutch, Chen Goldstein-Almog, Ori Megidish, Almog Meir Jan, Gadi Moses, Raaya Rotem, Eli Sharabi, Keith Siegel und Moran Stella Yanai.
Joining them will be relatives of murdered victims, those still held captive, and freed hostages — including the parents of Omer Shem-Tov, who was released from Hamas captivity, the parents of Hanan Yablonka and Ofir Tzarfati, who were murdered and abducted to Gaza, the widow of Ron Binyamin, as well as family members of Shani Louk and Tomer Achimas, whose bodies have since been recovered. Also participating is Daniel Weiss from Kibbutz Be’eri, whose parents were either killed or kidnapped. Some Holocaust survivors attending the event are grandparents of current hostages.
The Israeli delegation is being coordinated by the Hostages and Missing Persons Department at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
Ahead of the march, President Herzog is scheduled to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Oświęcim. Their meeting will focus on bilateral cooperation, the fight against antisemitism, and ongoing efforts to secure the release of the hostages still held by Hamas. The two leaders will also deliver joint press statements, lay a wreath at the Black Wall in Auschwitz, and tour the permanent Israeli Holocaust exhibit in Block 27. Additionally, they will meet with youth delegations from Israel and Poland.
The March of the Living will begin at 1:00 p.m. Poland time. The central memorial ceremony at Birkenau, including an address by President Herzog, is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Both President Duda and Holocaust survivors will also speak at the event.
Among the participants will be Aliza Wittis-Shomron, who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto, and Merrill Eisenhower Atwater, great-grandson of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Atwater will march alongside Holocaust survivors liberated by Allied forces — including Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, former chief rabbi of Israel and chairman of Yad Vashem, who survived the Buchenwald concentration camp as a child.
Due to recent antisemitic demonstrations in Warsaw, security measures for the event have been increased. Organizers emphasize, however, that maintaining the tradition of remembrance and unity remains as important as ever.
The ceremony will be broadcast live.
