May 4, 2024
On the occasion of the Jewish-Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom HaShoah in May and throughout 2024, tens of thousands people take to the street with the March of Life in 100 cities in 20 nations to proclaim : “Am Yisrael Chai – The People of Israel Live!” . They want to remember the Shoah and the Hamas-pogrom on October 7 and lift their voices for Israel and against Antisemitism. Marches will be held in major cities such as Berlin, London, Helsinki, Warsaw, Vienna, Santo Domingo, Houston, Lima and Buenos Aires. But also in smaller places the organizers mobilize their communities, universities, and church congregations to not remain silent, but to put the often invoked “never again” into action. The full list of Marches that is constantly updated can be found here: https://marchoflife.org/yomhashoah/
March of Life goes back to an initiative by Jobst Bittner a pastor and theologian from Tübingen/Germany and began with a memorial march from the Swabian Alb to Dachau. Since then, Marches have taken place in more than 20 nations and hundreds of cities. Under the motto “Remembering – Reconciliation – Taking a Stand”, March of Life aims to give Holocaust survivors a voice, facilitate reconciliation between the descendants of perpetrators and victims, and send a clear signal against modern antisemitism and in support of Israel. The Israeli president Isaac Herzog wrote in a letter to the March of Life in March 2023: “I commend your courage in engaging with dark and difficult family histories, and your insistence on directing the call of your collective conscience to advocating on behalf of Israel and Jewish communities everywhere.”
Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 brought the memory of the Holocaust back to life in a terrifying way: Within hours, 1200 people were brutally murdered. Women, children and the elderly were mutilated, raped, tortured, burned alive in their homes or taken hostage to Gaza. Since then, antisemitism has exploded worldwide: Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets with a message of hatred towards Israel and its people. Synagogues and Jewish homes have been vandalized, and the State of Israel is in the dock at the International Criminal Court of Justice.
Jobst Bittner, founder and president of the March of Life movement says: “As Jewish people around the world feel threatened and left alone, the question is, will we remain silent? After all, indifference and silence have been the hallmarks of antisemitism and hatred of Jews for more than 2000 years. Now is the time to take a clear and unequivocal stand on behalf of the Jewish people and the State of Israel!”
This year´s central March of Life that will be held in cooperation with the International March of the Living will take place in Berlin on May 12, 2024 and will start right next to Humboldt University, where recently anti-Israel protesters tried to encamp themselves. As special guest Hanan Dann and Elinor Bitton Bariach two survivors of October 7 from Kibbuz Kfar Aza will join the March and speak firsthand about their traumatic experiences. Also March of Life is releasing a special fundraising campaign in cooperation with Keren Hayesod to help the evacuees of Kfar Aza return and rebuild their community as a practical way to say: Am Israel Chai!
