The March of the Living on Holocaust Memorial Day

The March of the Living was held again this year in Budapest in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Thousands of people marched in the Hungarian capital to demonstrate against all forms of exclusion and prejudice. Speakers stressed the importance of remembrance, the responsibility of contemporaries and the role of education.

As the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the March of Living Foundation in Hungary, Gábor Gordon pointed out in his welcoming speech that "this year's walk commemorates the victims of forced labor service, who are not often mentioned in commemorations, even though more than 100,000 Jewish and non-Jewish people were conscripted into labor service and forced into labor camps from 1939 onwards." Of these, 60,000 did not survive the service because of inhuman and cruel treatment and conditions.

Israel's Ambassador in Budapest, Yakov Hadas-Handelsman stressed that education has a crucial role to play in eradicating anti-Semitism and in making young people aware of the crimes committed during the Holocaust.

"Anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination continue to pollute our world," he said. That is why it is so important to "hear first-hand the stories of survivors and, more importantly, to keep these stories alive for future generations. Survivors are the only living link to the past and soon, there will be no direct evidence of what happened."