Sixty Holocaust survivors from Israel, who endured ghettos, camps, forests, and places of hiding, were meant to lead today, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the International March of the Living on Polish soil, alongside 40 survivors from around the world.

They are between the ages of 80 and 100. Some were born at the time of liberation; others remember everything. All of them waited for this moment—a moment of victory and rebirth. To walk once more through the gates of hell and emerge upright, surrounded by family and the Israeli flag, and to say: we were here. We lost what was most precious to us—our childhood, our homes—but not our spirit.

They were meant to return today to Auschwitz-Birkenau as victors—those who witnessed humanity collapse yet refused to surrender to despair. They built lives, established families, communities, and a remarkable state—a state that continues to fight to ensure it will never again depend on others for its security.

This year, they could not come to march, as their safety could not be guaranteed in the midst........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)