What are our goals?
Remembering
Working through the past, giving survivors of the Holocaust a voice.
Reconciliation
Healing and restoration between victims and perpetrators, and their descendants.
Taking a stand
For Israel and against modern antisemitism.
What are we doing?
Honor: We honor the Holocaust survivors and let their voices be heard and their story told. It is important in this time when, even in the face of the overwhelming documentation by the Nazis themselves of the reality of the Holocaust, there are so many who deny that the Holocaust even happened or claim that the reports were exaggerated. This is occurring not only in countries where there is a political agenda to do so, but in the U.S. as well.
Educate: The purpose of the March is to educate a generation that is often unaware of the reality of the horrors of the Holocaust – ignorant not only of the facts of what happened during that time, but also of the attitudes and incendiary propaganda that preceded it. Those attitudes and propaganda conditioned a nation of people to stand by and be silent while the atrocities were being committed.
Remember: We remember those who were lost in the Holocaust, and those who were brave enough to stand up against the horror and to raise their voices and act.
Engage: We take to the streets in Memorial Marches, raising our voices against modern-day antisemitism, Jew hatred and any form of racism, motivating people all over the globe to take a stand and speak out.
Who we are
History of March of Remembrance
Jobst and Charlotte Bittner are the initiators of the March of Life movement. Since 2007, March of Life has organized memorial marches in more than 20 nations and over 400 cities. In 2009 Ted Pearce brought the vision of March of Life to the US and birthed March of Remembrance with the first march in Dallas, TX. In 2018 he stepped down as president of March of Remembrance, but continues to be a friend of March of Remembrance with his gifts and music.
March of Remembrance Director for Texas: Rozalie Jerome, Houston
Rozalie Jerome is our Director for Texas. She was raised in a conservative Jewish home, and is the child of Holocaust survivors who were rescued by Christians in Hungary. For almost ten years, she and her husband Mitch have been spearheading the March of Remembrance Houston for reconciliation between Jews and Christians and taking a bold stand for Israel. They are also founders of the Holocaust Remembrance Association.
March of Remembrance, National Coordinator: Claudia Kiesinger, New York
Claudia Kiesinger is the National Coordinator for March of Remembrance. She has been part of the March of Life movement since 2007 with her own personal family history as descendant of Nazi perpetrators. She is also the representative of the UN Prayer Watch, a Christian prayer and advocacy initiative at the UN for Israel.
In 2011 and 2015, March of Remembrance was honored by the Israeli Knesset for its special efforts on behalf of Holocaust survivors.
March of Remembrance is not a political statement, a rally or publicity stunt. The purpose of the march is to honor the survivors of the Holocaust. It is not a platform for publicity to promote an agenda on the part of any person or organization and is no platform for proselytizing.
How can you join us?
Join a March of Remembrance or organize your own.
Support us with your donation here.
Come to the March of the Nations in Israel 2022 and 2023.
Voices
Read what representatives of politics and Jewish life in Germany and globally have to say about the March of Remembrance
For the last years, the participants in the ‘March of Life’ have shown their friendship and
solidarity with Jews and with the Jewish state. As president of the World Jewish Congress, I know how critical such initiatives are to counter the avalanche of hatred that we often find in today’s world. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking such an important initiative, and I wish you much success with it.
Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress
Photo: worldjewishcongress.org
We are so grateful for your support. You stand up for Israel! Your support is a sign of true friendship between our communities.
Photo: Avi Ohayon, Government Press Office (Israel) – Spokesperson unit of the President of Israel – דוברות בית הנשיא
In the last few years, I have witnessed again and again that with their work they have created a foundation on which Christians and Jews can meet. They have created a platform on which we can speak openly about things that have been kept in silence for too many generations. They have thus created nothing less than the basis for dealing with the traumas, hardenings and fears of several generations. With their work they pave the way for a better future of Jewish-Christian relations and thus make a central contribution to Jewish life in Germany as well as to the State of Israel.
Israeli historian and Auschwitz expert
Dear friends,
Against a backdrop of growing Holocaust denial and spiking global anti-Semitism, The March of Life is an inspirational display of unity and remembrance, a vocal antidote to the complicit silence of good people, which made the Holocaust possible.
I commend your courage in engaging with dark and difficult family histories, and your insistence on directing the call of your collective conscience to advocating on behalf of Israel and Jewish communities everywhere. I look forward to the upcoming March of the Nations, which coincides with the international date of Israel’s 75th anniversary. Your presence demonstrates unwavering moral support for our nation-state and its people, and the State of Israel welcomes you with open arms.
Friends, the only way for good to triumph over the many evils perpetrated by humankind is through the intentioned actions of people of good conscience. You are true symbols of the possibility available to human beings to bravely confront their pasts and bring about healing and transformation. You are evidence that even out of unimaginable darkness can emerge the great light of compassion and friendship between nations and between men. Through your intentioned actions, you are helping histories of unspeakable crimes between man and man reincarnate into a present of compassion, justice, and truth, channeling the pain of implication in a dark and damning history to lend your voices a to the resonating imperative: “Never Again.”
I roundly applaud you.
Yours Sincerely
Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel
Yom HaShoah 2023
Uprising Against Antisemitism
The Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom HaShoah is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943, and this year marks the 80th anniversary. So Yom HaShoah not only commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, but also the many heroes who resolutely stood up against the Nazi plan to exterminate all Jews at that time.
Today, the State of Israel and flourishing Jewish life around the world are proof that the Nazis failed to reach their goal.
Nevertheless, Jewish life in Israel and worldwide is increasingly threatened by aggressive antisemitism in its various forms. It does not matter whether it comes from the left, the right, the religiously motivated or even from the middle of society: It is our responsibility not to remain silent and to take a stand!
Therefore, we are calling for a March of Life in every city and in every country to publicly raise our voices: For remembrance – for reconciliation – for Israel and against antisemitism!
Let’s take a stand against antisemitism. Are you with us?
March of Remembrance near you in 2023
California
Murrieta, April 2023 –
Kentucky
Bowling Green, April 18, 2023 – 5.30pm, Christian Family Radio
New Jersey
Morristown, November 19 – 2pm EST, St.Elizabeth University
Trenton, April 17, 2023 – 12pm-1pm – State House Annex entrance, (145 West State St., Trenton, NJ, you are free to bring your chair
New York
Rochester – April 16, 2023 – 1:30pm 12 Corners, Brighton NY
Texas
Dallas– April 16, 2023 – 2pm – Southern Methodist University
Houston, Kingwood – April 23, 2023 – 2-5pm – Kingwood Middleschool
Past Marches of Remembrance
California
Murrieta, May 1st, 2022 – 2-5pm – Murrieta Mesa Performing Arts
New Jersey
Trenton, April 25th, 2022 – 11am-12pm – The War Memorial
New York
Rochester – May 01. 2022 – 1:30pm 12 Corners, Brighton NY
Texas
Dallas – April 24. 2022 – 2pm – Southern Methodist University
Houston, Kingwood – May 01. 2022 – 12-4pm – Kings Harbor
Arizona: Tuscon – January 26th, 2020
For more dates and places worldwide, go to: March of Life
Arizona, Prescott – Al Rodriguez abyprescott@gmail.com
March of the Nations in Jerusalem, May 2023
More than 1500 participants celebrated the 75th anniversary of the State of Israel on the streets of Jerusalem on May 16. Under the slogan “Mi Shoah le Tkuma”, the representatives from 30 nations showed their friendship to Israel and took a stand against the silence about antisemitism. Among them were numerous descendants of Nazi perpetrators.
The March of the Nations set out from Sacher Park and led through northern Jerusalem to Safra Square in front of the City Hall. It was led by Holocaust survivors from Israel, Arye Itamar and Gita Koifman, and by two descendants of Nazi pperpetrators from Germany, Lisa Besteck and Anna-Suzette Pfeiffer. The participants wore T-shirts and and carried balloons in blue and white. They also carried Israeli flags and flags of their countries, as well as the names of cities where Marches of Life have already taken place this year. Many Jerusalemites greeted the march in their city with joy: People waved from their balconies and watched the dancing in the street.
The president and founder of the March of Life movement, Jobst Bittner, said at the closing ceremony in Safra Square in front of the City Hall: “The founding of the State of Israel is one of the greatest miracles of our time.” Nevertheless, he said, the country was in the midst of one of its greatest crises and was subject to almost daily attacks. “Israel, we stand with you! Israel, you are not alone!” That was the message of the participants in the March of the Nations, he said.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog welcomed the March in a letter ahead of the event, underscoring its “unwavering moral support for our nation-state”. Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum called the March of Life movement’s commemorative work unprecedented. “You are righting something that was so wrong with so much love and empathy,” she said. Every year anew, she said, she was proud to welcome the March. Jewish Agency President Doron Almog addressed the participants in a video message. March of Life was not limited to expressions of solidarity, but showed action.
For more information go to: www.marchofthenations.com
For all our registered organizers, we provide a whole range of resources and materials. Contact us to get your Starter Kit.
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