“We Have to March This Year—It Might Be Our Last Chance”
Holocaust survivors are aging, and this year’s March of the Living may be the last. As antisemitism rises, it’s never been more critical for young people to hear Holocaust stories firsthand.
They need your help.
The March of the Living is an educational journey that reclaims history. It transforms the death marches of the Holocaust into a victory march, honoring those who perished and affirming the survival and continuity of the Jewish people.
For nearly four decades, the program has brought together Holocaust survivors and young people from around the world, bridging generations through memory, testimony, and shared responsibility. Elie Wiesel’s words, “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness,” guide its mission to create new generations committed to remembrance and moral courage.
On April 14th, 2026, Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, survivors will once again lead the March alongside thousands of students from across the globe, bearing witness in the very places where history unfolded.
“Surviving is a gift. What I do with this gift is to share my story. Because it makes a difference to people to hear it directly from us.”
Holocaust survivors are a rapidly diminishing generation. For many, each March of the Living may be their last opportunity to walk with students, to testify in Auschwitz, and to ensure their voices are not lost to time.
Eva Kugler was born in 1931 in Halle, Germany. She experienced the horrors of Kristallnacht before fleeing to France on a forged visa on the outbreak of World War II, eventually making her way to the United States. Eve dedicated her life to Holocaust education, sharing her testimony with thousands of young people around the world. As a witness-educator with March of the Living UK, she believed deeply in the power of survivors telling their stories directly, in the places where history happened.
Eve passed away last year, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Help us continue her legacy.
Why This Year is Different
As the 81st anniversary of liberation approaches, the March of the Living takes on a profound urgency. With each passing year, the opportunity to walk alongside Holocaust survivors, to hear their firsthand accounts of unimaginable suffering and resilience, becomes rarer and more precious.
Since the horrific October 7 massacre, antisemitism around the world has become increasingly normalized, reaching alarming levels, with Jews targeted, harassed, discriminated against, and murdered in Bondi Beach (Australia), Manchester (UK), Boulder Colorado and Washington DC (USA).
The March of the Living has never been more important.
Professor Mark Spigelman: “I am a Holocaust survivor living in Sydney. After the October 7 attack, I was surprised at how swiftly and widespread antisemitism arose, but I now realize it has always been there. At the university where I teach, there have been hate encampments, and I am conscious not to openly show my identity when I am on campus. I am afraid, particularly after the Bondi massacre, and I worry about my family being attacked for being Jewish. Despite this, I have not changed my way of life or stopped attending synagogue or Jewish events. I proudly wear my cap from the March of the Living.”
“Holocaust education is essential,” Mark says. “The March of the Living exposes the Holocaust to the younger generation and the wider community, and anybody who has been on a March will be forever changed.”
The survivors need your help.
“Marching together with Holocaust survivors and students from around the world on the 81st anniversary since liberation means the world to me,” said Nate Leipciger, a 97-year-old survivor who will attend his 22nd March this year. A few weeks ago in another antisemitic attack in Canada the Mezuzaha at his building was removed. Nate’s response was firm: “We have to march this year because it might be our last chance – not only to remember, but to stand openly and proudly as Jews, and stand up against antisemitism. I march because I survived. I march to tell the world that we endured. And I march with the young because they are our future. They must never feel they need to hide who they are.”
The International March of the Living asks you to help sponsor a Holocaust survivor’s journey to Poland and Israel. Bearing witness to their stories is a sacred responsibility and a vital link between past and future. Your sponsorship enables survivors to travel, share their testimony, and march alongside students from around the world, inspiring new generations to remember and to stand against antisemitism.
Join us. Stand with the survivors. So that the world will never forget.