On 6 May, at the former Auschwitz concentration camp (now the Auschwitz Museum), an international event took place – the March of the Living, which is held annually to commemorate the Day of the Victims of the Holocaust and Heroic Resistance to Nazism (in Hebrew – Yom Ha Shoah).
This year, 58 Lithuanian representatives took part in the international event. The annual event was attended by participants from 15 countries worldwide and representatives of dozens of international organisations.
The March of the Living is an event where participants walk along a historical route from the Auschwitz Museum (the former Auschwitz I concentration camp) to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where gas chambers and crematoria operated during the Nazi occupation, industrially eliminating people and evidence of mass murder. The route of the March of the Living is about 4 kilometres long.
On 6 May, after walking several kilometres in a procession with representatives of various countries, a group of Lithuanian participants took part in a ceremony honouring the victims of the Holocaust, which was also attended by 55 Holocaust survivors.
The day before the March of the Living, the Lithuanian representatives visited the Auschwitz Museum and learned historical facts about the site. Led by Dasha, who told them touching stories, they relived events difficult for people living in peacetime to understand. The guide recalled that she had once asked a Holocaust survivor, “What does hunger mean? And he, a former prisoner of Auschwitz, replied: “It’s when you look at your weak, dying father and wait for him to die so that you can take a piece of his bread…”.
This is the fourth time Lithuania has participated in the International March of the Living. This year, Lithuania was represented by teachers and museum staff from Anykščiai, Ariogala, Baisogala, Balbieriškis, Darbėnai, Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Marijampolė, Mažeikiai, Panevėžys, Palanga, Prienai, Radviliškis, Varėna and Vilnius. Lithuanian participants included students from Darbėnai Gymnasium in Kretinga and Juozo Grušo Art Gymnasium in Kaunas, as well as representatives of the Jewish communities of Palanga and Šiauliai districts.
The March of the Living has been held since 1988 and is organised by the International March of the Living Organisation. Lithuania has participated in the event since 2019 after signing a cooperation agreement with the European March of the Living (EMOTL).
You can read the thoughts of Lithuanian participants about the March of the Living here.