‘THEY WILL BE OUR WITNESSES’
By Eli Rubenstein

Canadian Jewish News, Canada
May 17 2006

“We have all just spent a very challenging week in Poland. We have
seen the worst level of behaviour that humanity can express, which
resulted in the near destruction of Jewish life in eastern Europe.

But this evening, when I look out at this sea of young faces, here
in our homeland, the land of Israel, and see your commitment and
dedication to Am Yisrael, I know that the future of the Jewish People
is in good hands.”

These words were spoken by Anita Ekstein, Holocaust survivor, hidden
child and national chair of the March of the Living, to Canadian
march participants, at a special ceremony in Israel held on the eve
of Yom Ha’atzmaut.

“I am certain that I speak for all of my fellow survivors,” she
continued, “when I say, that travelling with 500 Canadian Jewish
teens to Poland, and being here together with you in Israel – there is
simply no better feeling in the world. Your presence with us on the
March of the Living fills us, the survivors, with the greatest sense
of hope possible and helps us truly believe that Am Yisrael Chai!”

The March of the Living was founded in 1988 by two Israeli visionaries,
Abraham Hirchson (the current Israeli finance minister) and Dr. Shmuel
Rosenman. The initial goals of the program included combating Holocaust
denial; educating Jewish youth about the history of the Shoah and
the acts of courage and sacrifice that occurred during the Shoah;
strengthening the bonds of Jewish youth with Israel, thereby enhancing
their sense of Jewish identity; fighting anti-Semitism and all forms
of racism; and acquainting the young participants with the richness
of Jewish life that once existed in eastern Europe.

But during the 18-year history of the March of the Living, one aspect
has become a central element of the program: the transmission of
memory from survivor to student, from one generation to the next.

On the 2006 March of the Living, each Canadian delegation was
accompanied by one or more Holocaust survivors who shared their
experiences with the students.

Bill Glied, a survivor from Toronto, explained his reason for
participating. “I am very concerned about the continuation of the
history of the Holocaust… I don’t want the Shoah to disappear into
history like the Armenian genocide. I think I succeeded in helping
the students understand their responsibility to make sure that what
happened should never happen again.”

Ben Younger, a survivor from Montreal, felt transformed by the trip.

“For most of my life, I just could not speak about the Holocaust –
it was too hurtful. But the kids, they opened me up… When I saw
the outpouring of love and affection for me, I said to myself,
‘I’ve got to tell them what happened’…

“Now I feel great. I finally did it… and I will keep speaking
about the Holocaust, in English and in French, to Jewish kids and
Christian kids.”

For David Shentow of Ottawa, a Holocaust survivor (and a former
Auschwitz inmate), the experience was “inspiring.”

“The young people said to me, ‘David you opened our eyes,’ because
I explained to them what it was like to be a survivor. The students
couldn’t do enough for me on the trip. For many of them, I was like
the zayde they never had… The students told me, ‘David, this time
you will walk into Auschwitz and then you will walk out with us’
and they never left my side…

“To me, the March of the Living is not just a journey – it’s a sacred
pilgrimage.”

The 2006 March of the Living was filled with hundreds of meaningful
moments, sad and joyous, painful and uplifting.

At the suggestion of Montreal Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, the participants
from that city each placed a stone in front of the crematoria in
Birkenau as a memorial to the six million. When they were finished,
they turned around and realized that they had created a large mound,
a temporary yet eloquent memorial to those who perished there. Later,
when the Toronto delegation visited Birkenau, many participants took
dust from the land of Israel and spread it out over the ruins of the
crematoria, reflecting the Jewish custom of burying loved ones with
the earth of the holy land.

In Warsaw, all Canadian groups took part in heartening dialogue
sessions with Polish Christian students, and met with righteous
gentiles.

In Israel, at the Kotel (the Western Wall), many students put on
tfillin or kissed the stones of the Wall for the first time. The
Canadian delegations all participated in Yom Hazikaron ceremonies to
honour Israel’s fallen. Some of the students met with wounded Israeli
soldiers, others met with their Israeli peers for a Shabbat-long
mifgash (gathering together). The Canadian groups visited the new
Yad Vashem Museum, climbed Masada, bathed in the Dead Sea and marched
through Jerusalem’s Old City on Yom Ha’atzmaut.

It was a journey packed with meaningful experiences in both Poland
and Israel.

But, as March participants will tell you, their interaction with the
survivors is what will be cherished among their most precious and
hallowed memories from the trip.

Listening to the survivors’ stories of their childhoods in towns such
as Warsaw, Krakow and Lublin; dancing with a survivor in the courtyard
of the Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin or in Jerusalem; or holding the hand
of a survivor while he or she walked through Treblinka, Majdanek,
Auschwitz-Birkenau or Belzec – these experiences are a life-lasting
legacy from the survivors to each March participant.

Although we hope that every survivor will live the lifespan of our
ancestor Moses (120 years), reality tells us that Holocaust survivors
will not be with us forever, and their ability to take the arduous
two-week journey to Poland and Israel diminishes with each year.

We must try to encourage as many of our young people as possible to
participate in this remarkable journey while the survivors can still
accompany them.

“I go back because of the kids,” said Anita Ekstein, who has
participated in six marches, “so I can share my story with them while
I still can.

“They should learn what happened to our ancestors, because once we
are gone, they will be our witnesses.”

Eli Rubenstein is national director of March of the Living Canada.