March Of The Living Will Go To Poland Despite ‘Polish Death Camp’ Law
Image by wikicommons
By Josh Nathan-Kazis February 9, 2018
An organization that takes young Jews to visit death camps in Poland said that it would continue its trips despite a new Polish law that makes it a crime to say that Poland was complicit in the Holocaust.
March of the Living, a Zionist group that runs trips that visit Poland and then Israel, has had more than 250,000 participants over its 30-year history.
“We believe it is our sacred responsibility to carry the torch of Holocaust memory and we remain committed to teaching the importance of understanding the past as a means of protecting the future,” said Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, president of International March of the Living, in a statement.
The controversial new law, signed by Poland’s president earlier this week, imposes prison sentences of up to three years on people convicted of using the phrase “Polish death camps,” or who blame Poland for Nazi crimes. Israel and the United States have condemned the law.
International March of the Living had previously issued a statement opposing the law. “We are hopeful that the governments of Israel and Poland will find a way to solve the current impasse, so that we can continue with our vital educational activities, teaching the history and lessons of the Shoah,” the organization said.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Right-wing activists riot outside Israeli-Palestinian memorial event at Reform synagogue in Israel
-
Fast Forward Trump fires Doug Emhoff from Holocaust Memorial Council
-
Fast Forward Facing police investigation, Irish band Kneecap denies supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
-
Fast Forward Red paint coats Dartmouth building in pro-Palestinian protest
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion The Trump administration just gave a gigantic gift to extremists in the West Bank
-
Opinion In this Hegelian age, we should be talking about Herzl not Trump
-
Culture What a lion, a rabbi, and a dog taught me about grief
-
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.