March of the Living is an international educational program that includes a march of three kilometres from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in honour of those who survived and in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.
The family of my father, Daniel, lived in Warsaw, Poland, and Tirgu Meant, Romania, and were trying to reach Canada when World War II broke out.
I am the first in my family to go back to visit Poland. As a participant in this year’s March of the Living (MOL), I was fortunate to be able to join other teens from Ottawa as part of Canada’s Coast to Coast delegation. We spent one week in Poland, followed by one week in Israel from April 16th to the 31st.
Sunday, February 26th, 2023,
Seven weeks before MOL and after my Shabbaton
This weekend, we had a Shabbaton with the March of the Living participants from Ottawa and Hamiliton in preparation for the upcoming trip. Our local group met with Holocaust survivor Vera Gara and heard her testimony. She was born in 1933 in Vienna, Austria. When the war broke out in 1938, her family was forced to flee to Szeged, Hungary, where they lived in ghettos under terrible conditions. She and her family were later sent to Bergen-Belsen, which she describes in her book, Least-Expected Heroes of the Holocaust, as follows : “Bergen-Belsen was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners but by the end of the war, more than 60,000 prisoners were detained there. We had hardly anything to eat. Sometimes it took days before we received a black-looking soup with some beetroot in it, pulled directly out of the ground. It is still hard for me after so many years to eat beetroots.” After sharing her story, Vera stayed for Shabbat dinner. She had us laughing the whole time. It was an absolute pleasure to meet her.
Monday, April 17th
Erev Yom Hashoah
After a long day of travelling, we have arrived in Poland. All the Coast to Coast delegation met in Toronto yesterday and we flew overnight to Krakow. After dinner this evening, we attended an Erev Yom Hashoah ceremony at the Temple Synagogue in the district of Kazimierz. It was like travelling back to a time when the Jewish community here would have been full of life, love, and community. The synagogue has beautiful and colourful details; this is evidence of care and attention to something intended to serve a vibrant community as a spiritual and communal centre. 3.3 million Jews lived in Poland before the war. After, there were less than 100,000. Nowadays, in the district of Kazimierz, we learned that a mere 100 Jews remain. It is a lot to take in and to grasp how mainstream Jewish life would have been here in Poland. I have only ever associated being Jewish with being a minority.
Tuesday, April 18th
International March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau
Today, at the Hero’s Square in the Krakow Ghetto, there was a monument of chairs. They were made to look wooden and weathered and represent the everyday life that was here before. Miriam Tekuzener, our Israeli tour guide, was telling me that each chair was equivalent to 8,000 people and 8,000 stories. When I went up to Alex Buckman, the designated Holocaust Survivor for the Coast to Coast delegation, in the square, he said that it was like the chairs were speaking to him, and that you could hear their words. He said they were not silent. He put his arm around me, and we walked through the square together.
During the March from Auschwitz to Birkenau, I realized how much Jewish community means to me. Being surrounded by 10,000 Jewish people, all walking, remembering, and listening together, was incredibly powerful. More than just bearing witness on my own, today we shared the weight of the Holocaust, and we are stronger and more resilient together.
Wednesday, April 19th
Auschwitz and Birkenau
Miriam said that before she visited concentration camps, the Holocaust was black and white, but after her first visit, she soon realized it was vibrant colour. Nothing could have been truer. Being here in person makes the fear and suffering of six million more real, but it remains unfathomable. Some people compared the numbness of today to looking through a peephole in a dark box. You get sudden and sharp waves of pain and emotion and then it’s back to darkness, back to grasping for straws and understanding.
We learned so much …
About the resistance that took place beyond the gates of Auschwitz and Birkenau.
About the Jewish prisoner whose job it was to assist at the infamous Block 10 in Auschwitz, where experiments were conducted on young women, and who saved hundreds of lives.
About a man who left the cattle car at Birkenau and began putting on his tefillin, resulting in his death.
About a woman who performed abortions in the barracks of Birkenau at night, saving the mothers’ lives.
About Baby Angela Orosz, the only person in the world whose passport states Auschwitz as their place of birth and who survived thanks to the help of those around her.
There is so much strength and so many silent heroes about whom we do not learn enough.
Wednesday, April 26th
Yom Ha’atzmaut, National Day of Israel’s Independence in Jerusalem
We’ve finally made it to Israel. Once again, 10,000 of us marched together, but today, on Israel’s day of independence, it was from the New Quarter to the Old Quarter of Jerusalem. I feel like I have learned more in a week and a half than in all my 17 years. I am left with a newfound sense of purpose and belonging in my Jewish identity because of this trip. I hope to take what I’ve learned and apply it to combat prejudice wherever I go.
March of the Living has allowed me to further my Holocaust education in a unique and powerful way, while creating life-long connections with other wonderful young people. Most importantly, I learned about the resilience and the strength of the Jewish people, both throughout history, and today. These days, with so much hate and negativity, the future is incredibly uncertain, but it is in a moment like this where I have faith in humanity. I have faith in my newfound friends. I have faith in the future of the Jewish people.
Anneke Goodwin is a 17-year-old student in Grade 11 at Nepean High School in Ottawa. Her mother, Kara Goodwin, is member of the CHES Board of Directors.
