March of the Living 2025: From Auschwitz to Gaza, a Call for Remembrance and Rescue
by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Over 12,000 participants, including Holocaust survivors, released Israeli hostages, bereaved families, and international delegates, marched Thursday from Auschwitz to Birkenau in the 2025 March of the Living. This year’s event—marking 80 years since the liberation of Nazi death camps—was uniquely infused with urgency, as calls to rescue hostages held by Hamas echoed the haunting memories of the Holocaust.
Polish President Andrzej Duda and Israeli President Isaac Herzog led the procession. “We call it the Holocaust, but it was nothing less than a wild wish for destruction… to erase a nation,” Duda said. “It failed, thanks to the strength of life… to heroism by many members of the Jewish nation.” Herzog followed, pointing out that half of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust were Polish. “Poland stood with us on October 7,” Herzog said, referencing the Hamas massacre. “We need the same unity to stop the Iranian octopus of terror today.”
Herzog’s remarks linked past genocide to present threats. “The world said ‘Never Again,’ yet dozens of Jews thirst for water and freedom in Gaza,” he declared. “Returning the hostages is a universal human imperative. This is a crime against humanity.”
Standing between the crematoriums where thousands were incinerated daily, Herzog and Duda shared a solemn exchange. “We will walk together… a dramatic call: Never again,” Duda said. Herzog read from the diary of Janusz Korczak, honoring the educator who perished with orphaned children. “Dozens of souls still thirst,” Herzog added, repeating his call for global unity to end the hostage crisis.
Israel’s UN envoy, Danny Danon, emphasized the urgency of bearing witness. “I brought diplomats from Africa here today—but sadly, Western European leaders are harder to convince,” he said. “Everyone must understand what happened on October 7.” Danon insisted that the Holocaust’s lessons remain urgent and unfulfilled.
Former hostage Eli Sharabi, visibly gaunt after enduring months in Hamas captivity, stood draped in the Israeli flag and delivered a powerful message of resilience. “The Holocaust was unlike anything else. But we, who were kidnapped, are proof of the triumph of the Jewish spirit,” he said. “I lost my wife and daughters on October 7. I chose life. And that gives me hope to start rebuilding each morning.”
Sharabi emphasized the urgency of the moment, stating, “We have a country—and it is strong. But the hostages must come home, and the dead must be buried in Israel.”
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