JERUSALEM (JTA) — The International March of the Living will honor six Holocaust survivors during its annual gathering at Auschwitz.
The theme of the organization’s annual gathering on Holocaust Remembrance Day, this year on April 12, is "Lamrot Hakol (Despite it all): Tribute to the Survivor." The group is seeking nominations of survivors who have demonstrated a "profound impact on the world" to be honored at the event, which includes 10,000 youths from around the world.
The program will highlight survivors of the Nazi period from various professional and social fields to emphasize how the Jewish community has succeeded in rebuilding from the ashes of the Holocaust. An international nominating committee will choose the six survivors whose accomplishments in government, business, religion and culture or academia attained great heights.
One survivor to be recognized will be Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, the former chief rabbi of Israel and currently the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, who has served "as a beacon of spirituality and leadership on behalf of the survivor community and the Jewish people everywhere," according to the committee.
"The survivor has been our most important educational link to understand the unspeakable depth of Nazi evil and the unimaginable tragedy of the Holocaust," said Dr. David Machlis, vice chairman of the International March of the Living. "Yet beyond what these people experienced during the war, their accomplishments after the war years are no less extraordinary and they deserve to be recognized as the true heroes that they are."
Hundreds of Holocaust survivors have been part of the annual missions to Poland and Israel to educate youth about the history of that period and the continuing dangers posed by hatred and intolerance.
Nominations can be sent to motl@lonestar.co.il
