Reflections On A Visit To Krakow

by Justin Cohen - Thursday 1st May 2008

I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I landed at Krakow airport on Tuesday morning.

Looking out the window, on the tarmac close to the aircraft on which I’d travelled, sat an El Al plane with its familiar design featuring the Star of David - you could not fail to see the irony or feel a profound sense of pride.

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Sixty-three years after this country bore witness to one of the worst crimes between man and his fellow man, when the Nazis attempted to annihilate the Jewish people, this international symbol of the Jewish state was free to land in Poland; not only that, it sat just a short journey from the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp where millions had been systematically murdered.

For me though, the significance of that particular flight and the reason for its’ passengers’ arrival here made this moment all the more poignant. On board were around 450 youngsters from across America, just a small fraction of the 10,000 people who will today join the March of the Living when they will retrace the three kilometre journey from Auschwitz to Birkenau taken by many who later perished there.

“It’s an amazing thing to arrive in Poland on an Israeli airline,” said Lori Plotkin Blum, one of the leaders of a group from Miami. “It’s a real statement that Hitler didn’t succeed. We’re here to celebrate life and the life and future of the Jewish people. All these kids represent the future.”

A participant, David Ben-Hayun, from New York, said: “As a Jew of Sephardic descent it was never my family who experienced the Holocaust so I wanted to hear first hand what happened here. There are things that you can't learn from a museum or in the classroom – March of the Living gives us the chance to pass on the lessons of what really happened as survivors are dying out.”

The annual March of the Living will this year be led by IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in recognition of Israel’s 60th anniversary and the event will also launch an international campaign aimed at ending genocide in all its forms.

Each of this year’s participants will sign a pledge which commits each individual "to fight every form of discrimination manifested against any religion, nationality or ethnic group… 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."

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