Our Holocaust Memorial and Education Center has created a scholarship fund to assist youth in our community who wish to participate in the March of the Living Program.  

Please see the articles below for information that the March of the Living provides about this program.

The International March of the Living is an annual educational program, which brings individuals from all over the world to Poland and Israel, in order to study the history of the Holocaust and to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate.

Taking place annually on Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day – The March of the Living itself is a 3-kilometer walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau as a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust.

The universal goal of the International March of the Living is to help inspire our participants to fight indifference, racism and injustice by witnessing the atrocities of the Holocaust. Our hope is that the program will help strengthen Jewish identity, connections to Israel and build a community of future Jewish leaders.

The March of the Living is joined every year by thousands of Jewish teens, adults and survivors from around the world, along with many other people from diverse faiths and backgrounds.

A key element of the program is the unique participation of Holocaust survivors. By being able to hear survivors stories in the very places where they unfolded, is an experience of a lifetime to remember the past and ensure the future. The years approaching are some of the last that survivors will be able to join us, making participation in this trip more timely and relevant than ever before. As Elie Wiesel once said: “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.” Our participants will become the living testimony for future generations.

According to objective third party studies, the long-term effect of the March of the Living program has been significant in terms of its impact on both Jewish and universal values. The participants return with a greater commitment to Israel, to remembering the Holocaust, to strengthening Jewish identity and practice, and becoming involved in their local Jewish communities. March of the Living alumni have also made important social contributions to the community at large, such as assisting the homeless, combating the ongoing genocide in Darfur, volunteering at home or abroad in various worthy humanitarian efforts, and working diligently to combat prejudice and hatred of every kind.

We pledge to fight every form of discrimination manifested against any religion, nationality or ethnic group.

We pledge to actively participate in the strengthening of Jewish life in the Diaspora and Israel.

We pledge to increase our knowledge of our Jewish heritage and to pass on a love of Jewish life and learning to the next generation.

We pledge to give tzedaka, to assist in helping the needy, wherever they may live in the world.

We pledge to involve ourselves in tikkun olam, to build a better world for all members of the human family.

After the Shoah the promise of ‘Never Again’ was proclaimed.

We pledge to create a world where ‘Never Again’ will become a reality for the Jewish people and, indeed, for all people.

This is our solemn pledge to the Jewish people, to those who came before us, to those of our generation, and to those who will follow in future generations.

Text taken from the Canadian March of the Living Trip Diary, Edited by Eli Rubenstein, National Director, March of the Living Canada

Credit: https://motl.org/

On April 12th, 2018, thousands of Jews and non-Jews, from countries all around the world, will share in a once-in-a-lifetime experience when they march the 3-kilometers from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest concentration camp complex built by the Nazis during World War II. The March commemorates Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

YOU CAN BE THERE, along with over 10,000 participants who will be part of this historic event. As a proud Marcher, your experience will be in direct contrast to the tragic fate of hundreds of thousands of Jews and others, who were forced by the Nazis to take part in the infamous death Marches, across vast expanses of European terrain, under the harshest of conditions. This time, however, there will be a difference. It will be a March of the Living among thousands, marching shoulder to shoulder.

You will participate in a memorial service at one of the gas chambers/crematoria, in Birkenau, which will conclude with the singing of Hatikvah, reaffirming Am Yisrael Chai – The Jewish People Live. From Poland, you will fly to Israel to join the entire Jewish community in celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s 70th Independence Day, on April 19, 2018.

The March of the Living to Poland and Israel will cause you to encounter both the richness and anguish of our past and the hope for our future.

High school students who will be in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades in 2016 (at the discretion of local communities) are eligible to participate. All qualified applicants will be carefully screened. Not everyone can be accepted. Applicants must complete an application, medical form, submit an essay, participate in a personal interview and supply letters of recommendation. If you are chosen, you will be provided with a study curriculum of Poland and Israel and will be expected to attend educational seminars that have been specifically created to prepare you for the March. Credit: https://motl.org/programs/high-school/