PHOTOS: March of the Living in Budapest

This year’s March of the Living was held in Budapest on Sunday, with participants walking from the Dohány Street synagogue to Keleti railway station.

World’s oldest Olympic Champion on the March of the Living

Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, Israel’s ambassador to Hungary, said the Hamas attack on Israel last October gave this year’s march a special significance. Education of the younger generations is even more important now, giving them inspiration to fight racism, discrimination, and injustice, he said. Eighty years after the Holocaust Jews are again afraid across the world, the ambassador said, but added that Hungary was “an island of renewal” with its prosperous Jewish community. He thanked the Hungarian government and said Hungary had set an example through introducing zero tolerance for anti-Semitism.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a video message that the Holocaust stood out in the crimes of mankind throughout world history, but added that the Jewish community was mourning over the deep tragedy of recent months. Those killed, tortured or kidnapped cry out for justice and freedom, he added.

World’s oldest Olympic Champion Ágnes Keleti also took part on the march:

The silence of the world was “deafening”

Gábor Gordon, head of the board of the March of the Living Foundation, said the horror of the Holocaust must be remembered as one of the largest massacres of mankind, but, at the same time, “we must celebrate a love of life and a will to live.” He made special mention of the some 100 Holocaust survivors attending the march in a minibus.

Baruch Adler, deputy director of the international March of the Living organisation, said the annually organised event demonstrated the victory of good over evil forces. Adler commemorated the Ukrainian villager who hid Adler’s mother during the Holocaust, risking the life of his own family by doing so.