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March of the Living 2010: Auschwitz to Birkenau

During World War II German Nazis established over forty concentration and death camps in or around the town known as Oświęcim, Poland.  Later, Oświęcim was renamed by the German’s and bears the name that puts terror and sorrow in our hearts; Auschwitz.

This year on April 12^th, the Rotary exchange students in Poland joined over 10,000 young Poles and Jews from the USA, Canada, Israel, Hungary, France and many other countries in the annual March of the Living walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau.  The march was held in Oświęcim to commemorate the 1.1 million Jews, Poles, and Roma (Gypsy) victims of the Auschwitz camps.

For us, the March of the Living was an inspirational gathering that honored, commemorated and helped us explore the past, present, and future of the Jewish and Polish people.

The exchange students began the day with a guided tour of Auschwitz I.  The exhibits at Auschwitz explain how the victims lived.  The Nazis took everything from them.  There were warehouses filled with shoes, eyeglasses (used to make barbed wire), hair (woven together to produce fabric), suitcases,  and much more.   It was very difficult to see.

Just a week earlier, with my parents visiting from the U.S., I had visited Auschwitz on a vacant, dreary, misty day.  You could feel the sorrow all around you even though the weather was nothing compared to what the prisoners in the concentration camps went through.  This time around, I had a different experience.  We arrived to drizzle when we entered the camp, but once the March started the sun shined brightly.

People filled the camp mainly wearing blue windbreakers that read “March of the Living”.  Several Israeli flags were seen along with Polish flags that held black ribbons in memory of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife and 94 others who were killed just two days earlier in a plane crash in Smoleńsk, Russia.

Just before the March began, the Ambassador of Israel in Poland spoke about the day.  He also requested a minute of silence for the lives lost in Smoleńsk.

The March started inside the walls of Auschwitz I concentration camp.  We marched through the infamous gate that reads Arbeit Macht Frei, or “Work Makes You Free”.  This sign was in fact replaced late last year because it was stolen, cut into three pieces, and recovered 72 hours later on the other side of Poland.

Many thoughts and emotions went through me.  I saw teenagers crying on their friends’ shoulders, heard the happiness in the foreign songs being sung and felt the warmth of not only the sun but the unity of the countries that came together that day.

As I witnessed everything, it made me question whether you should be happy or somber during this occasion.  I don’t believe I have ever felt so many different emotions as I did during those two hours marching.

When we reached Birkenau you could see wooden paddles piling up bearing names of victims and prayers for them.  These paddles were left on the railroad tracks entering Birkenau where the Nazis held the “selection” of Jews brought from all over Europe.  I noticed the theme behind every one of these paddles that was repeated in every language, “Never Again” and “We Will Never Forget”.

We teens, from all walks of life, exchanged names, stories, and emotions and we were all there for the same reason: to celebrate the memories of those lost years ago and to never forget.

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