As marchers on Monday walked where the fires of the Holocaust burned the fiercest, anti-Israel protesters chanted and waved Palestinian flags.
The “March of the Living” takes place on Holocaust Remembrance Day as marchers walk in silence from the death camp of Auschwitz to nearby Birkenau, where between 2.1 million and 4 million people — most of whom were Jewish — were slaughtered during World War II.
This year, Palestinian protesters blared sirens, waved flags and carried placards reading “Stop genocide,” according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
Chants from protesters were answered by pieces of “Am Israel chai,” a Jewish anthem.
“We marched today to give a voice to the six million victims of the Nazis industrial genocide of the Jewish people. We marched with survivors of the Nazi atrocities, as well as survivors of Hamas’ crimes and families of those still held in captivity,” a statement from the International March of the Living said.
“The half a dozen protesters who perversely saw this as an opportunity to voice hatred against Israel and the Jewish people serve as a timely reminder of the importance of Holocaust education and remembrance and of teaching the dangers of hatred and extremism,” the statement continued.
Bella Haim, 86, a Holocaust survivor born near Krakow who survived the war in hiding, joined in the march.
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“I’m here to show we are alive. We have risen from the Holocaust, and we will rise again from October 7,” she said before the march, according to the Times of Israel.
She said the Holocaust filled her mind when the grandson who was taken hostage on Oct. 7 and later killed left a voicemail.
Jew-haters joined in protest against Holocaust and Oct 7 survivors during the March of Living outside Auschwitz death camp.
Israeli and Jewish survivors did not remain silent, chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” proudly in return. ✊🏽✡️
(Via @NatalieLisbona) pic.twitter.com/vCR1yfQmxT
— Adam Albilya – אדם אלביליה (@AdamAlbilya) May 6, 2024
“He said he could smell houses burning and that sent me right back. The smoke, the smoke of Jewish homes, of whole shtetls burning,” she said.
“I think the comparison is not only legitimate but inevitable,” she said about the parallels between the Holocaust and Oct. 7. “Innocent Jewish families being butchered in a pogrom. How could I not think of the Holocaust?”
Shameless Palestine activists protest outside of AUSCHWITZ as Holocaust survivors hold a march on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A group of protesters waving Palestinian flags heckled Jewish survivors as they held a ‘March of the Living’ walk.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 6, 2024
Holocaust survivor Judith Tzamir, who was spared death because she was raised by a non-Jewish family during the war, also marched, according to the Associated Press.
“I don’t know if the world will listen, but even for myself, it’s important,” she said. “To remember that there’s still anti-Semitism around, and there are still people who will kill just for religious reasons.”
Imagine the moral depravity of protesting the March of the Living on behalf of those who would finish the Nazis’ job for them.
Location: the march from Auschwitz to Birkenau. pic.twitter.com/KEg5lbsrXQ
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) May 6, 2024
Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University in New York, led a group of leaders from colleges that were Catholic, Evangelical and historically black, according to ABC.
“The message here is clear. The dangers of allowing hate to go unchecked are real. And we don’t need to get to the cattle cars in order for it to be unconscionable and unacceptable,” he said.
He said college leaders must “call out, and in no uncertain terms, when there is intimidation and hate and anti-Semitism. We’re seeing it on campuses and college campuses, and it needs to have a response.”
