Photo: Ziv Koren
Nate Leipciger, born in Poland in 1928, endured the horrors of Auschwitz at just 15 years old. He was sent there with his family; his mother and sister were murdered. He and his father survived Auschwitz’ participated in a death march, and was liberated with his father, in a subcamp of Dachau by American soldiers on May 2, 1945. A dedicated educator with the March of the Living Canada, Leipciger will mark his 21st participation in the event in 2025.
The 80th anniversary of liberation prompts deep reflection for Leipciger. “It’s unreal,” he says. “I didn’t ever think that I would be around to celebrate… That thought in itself was very much hopeful during the Shoah.”
He describes his liberation as a second birthday. “I saw… the tank with a white star… Our guards… stood with fear in their eyes… I felt like kissing their feet and hugging them… I was crying… I found a sack of flour… we mixed it with water and baked it… our bread of redemption.” This moment was complex, a mixture of joy, the stark realization of survival, and the dawning awareness of loss. He recalls returning to his grandmother’s house, the dread of confronting the truth about his mother and sister: “One look at her face, and I knew… on October 6th, 1943, Yom Kippur Day, the Nazis murdered my mother and my sister.”
Looking at the future of Holocaust memory, Leipciger notes a shift in Jewish mentality. “The mentality of the Jewish people is different today than during the time of the Holocaust. Then the Jewish People said: ‘Don’t rock the boat. Be quiet. It’ll run its course. Then it will go away. This too shall pass”. We’re not of that mentality anymore. We managed to survive the impossible.
The victories of Israel and the fact that the Jewish people in the Diaspora and Israel have become one mean we won’t let another Holocaust happen to us again. We have the power to say never again will it happen to us. The Holocaust did not just happen to us. It was done to us. It was done by the world, and the world is responsible.”
The rise of antisemitism since October 7th, 2023, deeply impacted Nate. “On October 7th, my world collapsed. My feelings of security evaporated. My mental baggage, which was stowed away and hidden for the last two decades, suddenly appeared again. I felt like packing my bags again, and I felt that the only way we will survive is if we go to Israel. But then the response by the IDF, which came quickly and strongly, and the events of the next 15 months, restored my hope in this world – because we survived. My world has survived. The Jewish world has survived”.
This year, Leipciger will march again. “I am marching because I can… I want to tell the world that we are here and that we survived and that everything is possible. If I and other survivors could survive eight decades after the Shoah… our future is assured.”
He emphasizes the importance of the March of the Living, particularly the transition from Auschwitz to Israel. “We have traveled from the land of darkness… to the land of life… Israel is giving light to the world today.” He also acknowledges the vital role of non-Jewish participants. “They come… showing us we are not alone… those who stood up for Israel… those too are the new ‘Righteous among the Nations.’”
– Written by Eli Rubenstein, Director of Education International March of the Living
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