March of the Living
Prepared by Janet Stein Calm, President
American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors & Descendants of Greater Boston
October, 2023

“Never Again! Never Again!” the words shouted by survivors of the Holocaust after World War II. Never again is now! Now more than anytime since the war ended; now more than anytime since the Holocaust destroyed over fifty percent of the entire Jewish population; now more than ever, we need to ensure that generations born after the war know what happened to the Jews of Europe. Now more than ever we need those born in freedom, generations after the war, through concentration camps in Europe to learn onsite. Now more than ever, their education about the Holocaust cannot only consist of selective elements and minimal factual details taught in the classroom. March of the Living is needed now more than ever. 
 
March of the living is an exceptional learning opportunity and a tremendous resource. Bringing students to Europe to walk in the footsteps of those who perished and then emerge into freedom holding the hands of those who survived, marching with them into the living is a powerful and forceful learning experience.
 
We owe it to the Six Million who were killed to not allow history to be rewritten to suit other agendas. The world will never know what was lost in the Holocaust. Perhaps the cures for cancer or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease would have been discovered years ago if those people had not been murdered . Perhaps children who were slaughtered may have grown up to become brilliant mathematicians and science teachers, perhaps the finest artists or musicians. Perhaps killed were the local grocers who provided food for the needy. Perhaps lost were the future inventors of gadgets that would have helped disabled people be more mobile or blind people see. Perhaps gassed were the yet to be grandparents who were robbed of their futures, two people that I know I would have loved dearly. We will never know what was stollen from the world, but we do know that we must ensure that the atrocities of the Holocaust are not eradicated from history or forgotten . The only way to safeguard this is to prepare future generations with knowledge
 
Never again is now! Especially now while Israel battles an enemy that would like to see her destroyed. Especially now, more people need to be given a chance to attend a March of the Living journey to see with their own eyes the places in Europe that forever altered the world. Especially now, more than ever when we know that once again Jews are being targeted to be killed. Especially now, we need to arm future leaders with lifetime experiences that provide them with the courage to speak up and not allow history to be repeated or the Holocaust to be forgotten.