A decade ago, 300 survivors marked their liberation at Auschwitz. This year, 50 will go
3,000 people expected to attend ceremony on Jan. 27 as international delegations mark 80 years since largest German death camp was liberated by Red Army during World War II
Reporter at The Times of Israel
For Holocaust memory activist Lea Ganor, traveling from Israel to Poland for the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau’s liberation is a sacred mission.
“I feel this is our mission in life to be there, as Israelis, as the children of survivors. I think our presence there means a lot, especially in the times we are in with antisemitism around the world and the complicated situation Israel is in,” Ganor told The Times of Israel.
A resident of Israel’s north, Ganor’s activism has long focused on building relationships between Israelis and Poles. She visits Poland several times a year to organize — for example — sister city relationships and meetings between Israeli and Polish civic leaders.
Ganor is one of 3,000 people expected to attend the January 27 ceremony marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. One million Jews from across Europe were murdered at the German-built death camp during the Holocaust, alongside 100,000 victims of other Nazi target groups.
In Israel, Ganor founded the Mashmaut Center for Holocaust activism in 1994. She also directs foreign affairs for Kiryat Motzkin, her hometown outside Haifa.
“Our delegation to Poland is building bridges,” said Ganor.
The group from Kiryat Motzkin includes the city’s mayor, school principals, as well as several teachers, said Ganor. “The most important thing is meeting people to plan joint projects,” she said.
In 2015, Ganor attended the ceremony marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Ten years ago, 300 survivors participated in the commemoration. Later this month, 50 survivors are expected to attend the ceremony, according to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
While some Jews associate visiting Poland with doom and gloom, Ganor sees things quite differently. For decades, she has built relationships with Poles who are also drawn to Holocaust memory work. They are her friends, said Ganor.
“I feel we will be safe and surrounded by friends,” she said. “It’s something like light in the darkness. If you stay stuck in the past you can’t move forward,” said Ganor.
The January 27 commemoration made headlines several weeks ago, when there appeared to be the possibility that Prime Minister Netanyahu would be arrested if he were to land in Poland. The threat blew over, but the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum said the ceremony would be devoid of remarks from politicians.
“Silence, too, is a natural response to the void [survivors] will leave behind. It would not be good if their place were taken solely by the voices of politicians, historians, or artists,” said Piotr M.A. Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
“The future of the January 27th ceremony faces the need for redefinition. Once the last survivors are gone, we will need to draw more deeply on the legacy they have left us,” said Cywinski.
Two years ago, Cywinski spoke against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during the liberation ceremony. Accusing Putin of “sick megalomania,” Cywinski compared Putin’s war atrocities to those committed by Hitler.
“Difficult choices lie before us all, but for now, let us focus on the survivors and not hasten, even in our thoughts, what will inevitably come one day,” Cywinski told The Times of Israel.
‘The last major event’
Many people set to attend the commemoration have never been to the former death camp before, much less Poland.
“My grandmother was an Auschwitz survivor who, while imprisoned, likely never imagined she’d one day have grandchildren who would return to the camp on their own terms,” said Mollie Bowman, managing director of Living Links, a new organization engaging descendants of Holocaust survivors launching in partnership with USC Shoah Foundation.
“To attend a commemorative event marking 80 years of liberation is a powerful reclamation of our family narrative, a testament to how much can change in a generation, and a reminder not to take our freedoms — perhaps more fragile now than they have been for the last 80 years — for granted,” Bowman told The Times of Israel.
Jenna Price of Gainesville, Florida, is traveling to Poland with the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO). The descendant of Holocaust victims, Price works for “Teach the Shoah,” booking storytellers at schools and companies across the US.
“I wanted to tell my family’s story but I didn’t know how to put it together,” Price told The Times of Israel.
“Actually going to the places in person will make it so much more real for me and more connected. That will all come across in my own storytelling at schools,” said Price.
The AHO delegation in which Price is participating will be led by historian Michael Berenbaum, one of the world’s foremost experts on the Holocaust.
A member of the International Auschwitz Committee, Berenbaum will lead the AHO group at sites across southern Poland. He will also hold a public dialogue with the Cardinal of Krakow on religious aspects of the Holocaust.
Berenbaum pointed to the significance of Britain’s King Charles attending the ceremony at Auschwitz. The king’s grandmother rescued Jews during the Holocaust and — more than half a century later — her grandson, as Prince of Wales, was the driving force behind opening Krakow’s thriving Jewish Community Center.
“This will be the last major event that will be held in the presence of survivors. Therefore it takes on a very special meaning,” said Berenbaum.
