Sam Churchill / Conservative MPs with Auschwitz survivor Arek Hersh MBE
CFI Officers Miriam Cates MP and Peter Gibson MP joined the March of the Living in Poland last week, where more than 2,500 participants marched together from Auschwitz to Birkenau in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
Thousands of participants walked together with Holocaust survivors along the two-mile railway between Auschwitz and Birkenau, where 1.1 million Jewish people were murdered. Miriam and Peter were joined by CFI Political Director Elkie Clark during the four-day visit, where they learnt about 1,000 years of Jewish history in Poland as part of the March of the Living UK delegation.
Reflecting on their visit in an article for the Jewish News, the Conservative MPs wrote that it was “an experience like no other”. “The March of the Living has left a lasting mark on us both to carry forward the torch of remembrance”, they added.
They described the March of Living as a “celebration of life”, writing that it was an “immense privilege” to be able to take part in the event alongside British Jews and hear the testimonies of Holocaust survivors during the week.
The parliamentarians underlined: “What we have witnessed and learned leaves us with the sense that the Holocaust was unique and should be seen as such. Killing Jewish people was about ethnic cleansing as other genocides have been, but it was also an attempt to erase and desecrate Jewish culture and history”.
They added that “despite the fact that one-third of all Jews perished in the Holocaust, the message was that the Jewish nation not only survived but flourished”.
The MPs concluded by emphasising that “the Jewish message of tolerance, understanding and peace was underpinned by the participation in the March by those of other faiths and of none”.
