Oct. 7, Holocaust survivors march in Auschwitz 80 years after death camp's liberation
Some 8,000 people — including free Hamas hostages Agam Berger, Ori Megidish and Eli Sharabi — marched roughly two miles to the infamous German extermination camp in Birkenau to pay tribute to the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
'We've really become a community, all of the survivors,' said Natalie Sanandaji, of Long Island, who survived the Nova music festival attack in 2023.
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7 Thousands gathered at the International March of the Living to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation at Auschwitz.
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7 Freed Hamas hostage Eli Sharabi attended the ceremony draped in an Israeli flagged with President Isaac Herzog, left.
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'I've been able to meet so many other survivors and it's been a huge part of my healing process being able to spend time with other people who understand what I went through,' she added.
The International March of the Living was also attended by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Polish President Andrzej Duda.
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'In days when antisemitism is raising its ugly head, when there is hatred towards Israel and when cries rise for the destruction of Israel, we must stand strong and remind and promise the world: never again,' Herzog proclaimed.
7 Soldiers march while holding the Torah at the former death camp where an estimated 1.1 million Jews were killed.
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7 Former Hamas hostages Ori Magdish, left, and Agam Berger, also joined the march on Thursday.
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was also in attendance with his wife, Tammy, who had relatives who stayed behind in Poland during the pogroms and the rise of the Nazi regime.
Murphy said it was important to be at the march to show his support for Edan Alexander, of Tenafly, who is the last-living American hostage that remains in Hamas captivity.
'We pray for him and his family,' Murphy said. 'Please, God, [we hope] he's released soon,' Murphy said.
7 Berger performed at the ceremony using a violin recovered from the death camp.
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7 Holocaust survivors and thousands of others walked through the infamous 'Arbeit macht frei' (Work sets you free) gate.
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Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, said it was his first time in Auschwitz since the war in Gaza began, which he said has sparked a rise in antisemitism across the globe.
'We always say, 'Never again,' and we cannot compare the Holocaust to anything else, but what we have seen in Israel on October 7, we realize we still have to face evil,' Danon said.
'I still have hope. I think the majority of the world don't know the facts, they are ignorant and we have to educate them,' he added about the spike in antisemitism.
7 Memory boards were placed outside the death camp to honor the victims.
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Duda, who stood alongside Herzog, said that along with paying tribute to those who lost their lives during the Holocaust, those marching are also calling for an end to antisemitism and freedom of the 59 hostages still under Hamas captivity.
'We both expressed our hope that the war taking place in the Gaza Strip, which was started by Hamas' attack on Israel, will be able to end, that the hostages who are still in Hamas hands will be able to return home,' Duda said.
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Of the estimated six million Jews systematically killed during the Holocaust — as well as millions of others from minority groups across German-occupied Europe — about 1.1 million people died inside the Auschwitz death camp.
With Post wires
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