Pro-Palestinian protesters chant ‘stop genocide’ at annual Auschwitz march
A SHOAH survivor has voiced her outrage after pro-Palestinian activists staged a “disgusting” protest at the annual March of the Living in Poland on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The activists chanted “stop genocide” and waved Palestinian flags at the marchers, which is held each year to pay respects to victims of the Holocaust.
The march was attended by survivors of the Holocaust as well as those who survived the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Images show some protesters wearing yellow badges resembling the stars Nazis forced Jews to wear.
Marchers sang back “Am Yisrael Chai” at protesters.
Responding to images of the protesters at Auschwitz, Lucy Lipiner, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor wrote on Twitter/X: “These protesters are standing along the same route that my uncles, aunts, and baby cousins walked from the Auschwitz train station to the gas chamber of Birkenau where they were murdered.
“If anyone believes that this latest wave of anti-Zionism isn’t just antisemitism, would someone please explain to me why they’re interrupting a march honouring the victims of the Holocaust?” Speaking to the Telegraph, Jules Koifman from London said: “Pro-Palestinian protesters here at the Yom HaShoah ceremony – it’s really disgusting.
“It really shows that they’re here to continue what Hitler set out to do, that Hamas stands on the shoulders of the Nazi regime. We will never let that happen.”
Alyssa Annis, who also attended the march, said: “It was a little bit disturbing, but at the same time it is a sign of hope because as we walked by, we walked by with our flags and in groups of people from all over the world, groups of people of all different religions.
“And so it’s even more proof, not only what they managed to do and they wanted to do here, they didn’t win and we are still here, and that humanity is still in existence.”
The remembrance march sees people from all over the world come together to walk 3km between the sites of the Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps. The march, which is in its 36th year, is a chance to remember the 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, who died at Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945.
March of the Living’s organisers said: “We marched today to give a voice to the six million victims of the Nazi’s industrial genocide of the Jewish people. We marched with survivors of the Nazi atrocities as well as survivors of Hamas’s crimes and families of those still held in captivity.
“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.”
It shows they’re here to continue what Hitler set out to do