A marcher wears a yellow badge similar to those the Nazis forced Jews to wear as a demonstrator raises the Palestinian flag. Photo: Omar Marquez/Getty Images
Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a memorial march honoring victims of Nazi atrocities at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Demonstrators chanted slogans at the marchers, unfurling Palestinian flags and banners reading “stop” genocide.”
Survivors of the Holocaust and Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel took part in Monday's march along with thousands of others who came to renew their pledge: “Never again.”
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Some protesters wore yellow star-shaped badges that resembled those that Nazi authorities forced Jews to wear shortly after Germany invaded Poland in 1939.
In response to protesters' chants, marchers sang the Jewish solidarity anthem “Am Israel Chai”, the name of which means “the people of Israel are alive.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags along the route of the annual International March of the Living near Auschwitz. Photo: Kuba Stezycki/Reuters
Jules Koyfman, a Canadian living in London who attended the march, said: “The pro-Palestinian protesters here at the Yom Hashoah ceremony are truly disgusting.”
“This is really shows that they are here to continue what Hitler intended to do, that Hamas stands on the shoulders of the Nazi regime. We will never allow this.”
Alyssa Annis, another marcher, said: “It was a little unsettling, but at the same time it's 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 various religions.
“And this is another proof: not only what they managed to do and they wanted to do here, they did not win, and we are still here, and that humanity is still exists.”
The March of Remembrance, called the International March of the Living, is an annual silent walk of 3 km between the former death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Historians believe that between 1940 and 1945, about 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, including a million Jews.
Participants display a large Israeli flag during a march in honor of victims of the Holocaust Photo: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP
The march, which has been held for 36 years, attracts thousands of participants. In response to Monday's protest, organizers said: “We marched today to give a voice to the six million victims of the Nazi industrial genocide of the Jewish people.”
“We marched with survivors of Nazi atrocities , as well as survivors of Hamas crimes and the families of those still in captivity.
“The half-dozen protesters who mistakenly saw this as an opportunity to express hatred of Israel and the Jewish people serve as a timely reminder of the importance of education and Holocaust remembrance, and teaching about the dangers of hatred and extremism.”
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