Istruzione e Formazione
Yom HaShoah Milestone Program At Auschwitz
NEW YORK , April 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- for a week of intensive education and touring in Poland to study the history of the Holocaust and examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate. Its aim is to impart the lessons of the Holocaust, celebrate the history of Jewish survival, and instill a passion for social justice. Instead of learning just from books, the literal facts on the ground become their laboratory. To date, over 185,000 students have participated in the program. This memorable journey starts in Poland just prior to Yom HaShoah-Holocaust Memorial Day -and continues in Israel where participants honor Israel's fallen soldiers on Yom Hazikaron-Israel's Memorial Day and celebrate Israel's Independence on Yom Ha'Atzmaut.
This joined by thousands of Jewish teens, adults and survivors from around the world, serves as a hopeful counterpoint to the experience of hundreds of thousands of Jews forced by the Nazis to cross vast expanses of European terrain under the harshest of conditions—the infamous "death marches."
For the first time in its 25 year history, the ceremony at Auschwitz will be broadcast LIVE. Solemn and uplifting musical interludes will be performed throughout emphasizing the themes of prayer, resistance, remembrance and hope and in honor of the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. A song written by alumni entitled, " " will be featured and renowned Jewish soul-singer Neshama Carlebach will be performing. The program will be led by , and will also include a . Rabbi Lau, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel and current Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, was himself a child survivor of the Holocaust. Joining him on the podium will be Jewish communal leader and philanthropist, , a Holocaust survivor whose father perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau and whose family has dedicated a memorial there. Also speaking to the participants will be , son of a Holocaust survivor, and , President of the World Jewish Congress.
To close the program, six torches will be lit, each reflecting a theme that will pay tribute to the 6,000,000 lives lost:
Participating in the will be Tami Hausner-Raveh , Chair of Israel's Channel 2 News Broadcast and daughter of Gideon Hausner, Chief Prosecutor at the Eichmann Trial; Michael-Miki Gilad , Chief Inspector, 06 Unit of the Police and Chief Assistant at the Eichmann Trial (subject of the famous movie "The 81st Blow"); Lt. General Benny Ganz , IDF Chief of Staff and son of a Holocaust survivor; Mark Siwiec , Chairman of European Friends of Israel (EFI); Vladimir Sloutsker, President of the Israeli Jewish Congress (IJC), and Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder , President of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), who will light a torch specifically memorializing the 1,100,000 plus victims, mainly Jews, who entered Auschwitz on foot but only left as ashes through chimney stacks.
"Nothing I saw prepared me for Auschwitz," said Ambassador Lauder after an earlier visit. "For the first time, I truly understood not only the Holocaust but also what it was like to be a Jew in pre-war Europe . My involvement with the continues to be a most rewarding and gratifying experience, because it creates hope for a Jewish future among a new generation of young Jews."
Participants in this year's International will visit such places as the Gensha Cemetery, Treblinka, Warsaw 's Nozak Synagogue, the Krakow's Ghetto, Majdanek, and Schindler's Factory. The group will also stop in , in honor of the city's most famous citizen. This project was inspired by Deputy World Chairman & General Director, Poland and Israel Projects.
touches the lives of Jewish and non-Jewish youth from around the world, taking them on a life-changing journey. During the trip, students are exposed to the richness of Jewish life in pre-war Europe , taught critically important lessons of the Holocaust and are given the opportunity to form a profound connection to the Land and the People of Israel.
The leadership of the consists of: