The Main Event

And you won’t be surprised to hear that today was another epic day that will stay with me for a very long time.

But before I get to the main event, let me take you back to last night and to our morning.

Today is Yom Hashoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Jewish calendar. It is a sombre day for obvious reasons and was the rationale why I am here in Poland this week and not at any other time. This is the date determined (by the Israeli parliament) in 1951 that we should commemorate those who perished in the Holocaust.

So last night, the 250 people who had come over from the UK met for a short presentation and candle lighting ceremony. We are a group of mixed ages, backgrounds, religions and motivations for being here. It includes students at university, recent graduates, under 35s, adults and the mixed faith groups.

The most interesting element of the service was the inclusion of the representatives of the March for Life from Germany. MfL are a group of descendants of the perpetrators of the Holocaust. People whose grandparents and great grandparents who were Nazis. This was a uncertain moment for many of us. We welcomed them into our group and to hear their individual stories. It’s probably not far from many of our minds when we meet Germans today to think, what was their story? What did their grandparents do to help? Or did they play a role in this horrific story? So three people came and shared their story. One was the great grandson of a soldier who worked at one of the concentration camp. One was a policeman who had Jewish friends that suddenly disappeared. A different perspective that dominated the conversation for the rest of the evening as we retired to the hotel bar.

This morning we headed to the Krackow ghetto. And area of the town that was defined in 1941 for 40,000 Jews as the German head of the city wanted to create a Jew-free city.

The annihilation of the Jews didn’t come with a plan or a handbook. It was haphazard and initially didn’t have a specific method that would

work to rid the world of Jews. There was no specific strategy as it started. Some talked of moving all the Jews in Europe to Madagascar. When someone decided to  move the Jews of Lublin, they drove them to the forest and left them there. But with no instructions or information, they walked the many miles back to Lublin and returned to the city. Plan failed!

But segregating the Jews into a Ghetto and restricting their freedoms was an effective plan - at least until they knew how to get rid of them permanently. So as the Jews were rounded up and 40,000 Jews congregated in a small neglected area of the town. They were crowded into apartments 10 or 20 per room. And so we moved through the area, pointing out art installations or plaques that remind people who lived here before and how they survived - or didn’t.

We then made our way back to Auschwitz to congregate for the main event - the March to Birkenau and the March of the Living ceremony.

Now if you recall, yesterday was a very sombre day. And my expectation, as I said earlier, was that today would be a similarly sombre day. But in an unusual manner, it wasn’t. Throughout the morning, up to 10,000 people congregated in their respective groups. And as we gathered the atmosphere was lively and bustling. It was like we were waiting to go into a sports event or a concert. There was singing and chanting. Some cheering. Friends from different countries seeked each other out and from social media posts one of my sisters past pupils found me - out of thousands (and probably hundreds of bald Jewish men in the crowd).

And it was a remarkable site. To be standing on the high street of Auschwitz, 10,000 strong was obviously a huge privilege and there was an element of celebration to say “you tried to destroy us, yet we survived!”

Many of us carried or were draped in the Israeli flag. And someone non-Jewish asked why we weren’t carrying our national flag?  This is not a political event. Carrying the flag is a demonstration that the repetitive targeting and attempt to annihilate Jewish people has become impossible as Jews now have consistent and reliable support from the State of Israel - and we have somewhere to go if we really do have to leave our homes in the future.

It will be no surprise to hear that our schedule start time of 1230 ran late. Very late. The crowd started moving on the sound of a Shofar (a rams horn blown in the synagogue during the Jewish New Year). And we shuffled forward. And we stopped. And we shuffled forward again. And then we made it to the main road and it was a walk to Birkenau. The weather was kind. The spirit was strong and not quite celebratory, but determined and positive - if nothing else than because we were moving at last.

About forty five minutes later we reached Birkenau and many people had brought a wooden plaque to plant on the train tracks with the name of a relative they were there to commemorate. And for those who didn’t have a specific name, there were generic messages of remembrance for the millions who were murdered.

The formalities started and the dignitaries arrived. These included 42 Holocaust survivors - the youngest was born in 1942; the Italian President; Robert Kraft of the Kraft Group (you know - Philadelphia cream cheese, Maxwell House coffee) - a philanthropist who has funded a foundation to counter antisemitism and the BDS campaign against Israel. Also in the crowd was MeekMill (no, I hadn’t heard of him either but he’s a big deal in the rap world). The Israeli education minister, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the current and past US ambassador to Israel. Representatives of the police forces from a dozen countries, and delegations from Austria, Australia, Argentina, Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, Panama, Mexico, Poland, Germany, Italy, Canada, USA, Israel and the United Kingdom.

Perhaps my most inspiring introduction was to a young man called Ashkan. He was part of the German delegation but only arrived in Germany 2 years ago from Afghanistan. He’s not Jewish. He’s a recent refugee. And German society has taught him that as bad as his own journey may have been, he should come to this. I can hardly imagine what he’s been through but he was there to support Jews today.

And so I am now one of 310,000 who have marched since 1988 when the first March of the Living occurred. It was formed by people who were worried about the rise of antisemitism and the rise of Holocaust denial. I’m still worried so clearly more people need to come next year.

Until tomorrow.