Remembering Elie Wiesel
Throughout his life, Elie Wiesel stressed the moral obligation to not only listen to the testimony Holocaust survivors but to bear witness to their painful stories, memorably stating:
When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.
These simple yet compelling words are, in essence, the mission statement of March of the Living. For almost 40 decades, thousands of young students on the March of the Living have absorbed the stories of the Holocaust survivors accompanying them on the trip, and pledged to be the bearers of their memories and share their testimony with future generations.
From The Jerusalem Post
July 2, 2026 marks the passing of Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner, human rights advocate, and among the most eloquent chroniclers of the tragic events of the Shoah.
Wiesel had a significant impact on the March of the Living, serving on the Presidium for the first March of the Living in 1988, during its founding year. Wiesel also attended the March of the Living in 1990, and again in 2005, during the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, where Wiesel addressed over 18,000 in attendance - the largest event in the program's history.
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DonateElie Wiesel · March of the Living Speech, 1990
Children of the Jewish people will you ever see what I see here? I see so many children, and so many parents and so many teachers and so many students. I see them. Forever will I see them. I see them walking in they are nocturnal processions — wandering, crying, praying.
Forever will I see the children who no longer have the strength to cry. Forever will I see the elderly who no longer have the strength to help them. Forever will I see the mothers and the fathers, the grandfathers and grandmothers, the little schoolchildren…their teachers…the righteous and the chasidim… From where do we take the tears to cry over them? Who has the strength to cry for them?
I Was There
I was always proud to be a Jew. My grandfather was a Cantor, my mother and Bubby were the caterers at our synagogue. I sang in the children's choir every Rosh Chodesh at services, I went to Hebrew school. I loved traditions — my first job was singing in the Yiddish Theatre! At 13, I sang Papirosen and made all the Bubbies and the Zaydes (the elderly Jews) cry.
This year is the 10th anniversary of the passing of Elie Wiesel, and I want share with you on experience I had hearing Elie Wiesel speak at the 1990 March of the Living, which I attended as part of the Canadian delegation. Standing amid the ruins of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Wiesel told the students about a young girl he remembered seeing when he was interned in Auschwitz in 1944. “Children of the Jewish People,” he began, “Will you ever see what I see here? Years and years ago I saw…I cannot tell you what I saw. I am afraid if I told you - we would all break out in tears, and we would not stop.” He paused and then continued: “I see a young girl….”
