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Holocaust Survivor Eve Kuper Speech at The New York Stock Exchange
We are living in interesting times. Times which, for Holocaust survivors like me, are too reminiscent of former “interesting times” – the…
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Sponsor a Holocaust Survivor – While We Still Can
View this email in your browser “Without history there will be no memory, and without memory there will be no future.” Holocaust Survivor Max Eisen z”l (1928-2022) Photo: Eynat Katz They are among the last living witnesses to the Holocaust. Their voices carry history, and moral responsibility. At a time when antisemitism is once again on the rise, and Holocaust denial and distortion are spreading globally, we spoke with March of the Living survivor-educators about why it is so crucial for them to march. SPONSOR A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR Holocaust Survivor Georgine Nash Photo: Igal Hecht “Stand up to anyone who denies what happened” Georgine Nash was born in Budapest in 1937. She survived the Holocaust through what she calls “a series of miracles,” hiding with her mother and living to see liberation in 1945, while many members of her family were murdered. “My motivation to take part in the March of the Living is to share my experiences, my fears, and my hopes for the future of the Jewish community,” Georgine says. For Georgine, the March of the Living is no longer only about preserving the past, but about responding to the present: “In light of rising antisemitism and the events of October 7, I have felt fear and hopelessness at times. But I continue to speak because it is essential that the horrors of the Holocaust are remembered and passed on. My message to students is simple: keep talking about what you have learned from survivors and stand up to anyone who denies what happened. Never again.” Many survivors hope to march this Yom HaShoah with students at the International March of the Living in Auschwitz. To make this possible, they need your help. SPONSOR A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR Holocaust Survivor Gabriella Karin Photo: Ziv Koren “I watched them change in front of my eyes” Gabriella Karin, born in Czechoslovakia in 1930, has dedicated herself to educating young people, especially 17–18-year-olds, about the reality of life under Hitler’s regime. “I speak to teenagers about our history, history that I was personally a part of”, Gabriella explains. “When I talk to them, I see something extraordinary happen. They begin to mature. They develop feelings and a deeper connection to Judaism. That transformation affected me as well. Despite my age, I know I must continue to speak and spread the truth about the atrocities committed under Hitler’s regime. We have a responsibility to educate young people about the facts of World War II.” Reflecting on the sharp rise in antisemitism since October 7, Gabriella wants to send a message to the world: "I am frustrated, but not afraid. It doesn’t matter what color our eyes are, what color our hair is, or what color our skin is—we are all the same people. We don’t have to love everybody, but we do have to respect every person in this world. We all have the right to be here.” Gabriella is a firm believer in education: “I come to the March of the Living because education is the most important part. I hope people will realize that we all have the right to be here, and that the world can change.” This may be their last chance Holocaust survivors are a rapidly diminishing generation. For many, each March of the Living could be their last opportunity to walk with students, to testify in the very places where history unfolded, and to pass the responsibility of memory to the next generation. Holocaust Survivor Max Eisen Z”L (1928-2022) Photo: Eynat Katz Max Eisen z”l, was born in 1929, in Moldava, former Czechoslovakia. Max had two brothers and a younger sister. In spring 1939, Max and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Max worked in slave labor with his father and uncle, but in September 1944, the two were selected out, leaving Max alone. Max survived a death march to Mauthausen, Melk and Ebensee. He was liberated by the US Army on May 6, 1945. Max participated in 18 March of the Living journeys where he retold his story as a young boy in Auschwitz to thousands of teenagers. As he warned just before he passed away in 2022: “We, the survivors, have a very difficult job. We’re up against a huge steamroller. Without history there will be no memory, and without memory there will be no future.” SPONSOR A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR
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We Have to March This Year and Speak Up Against Antisemitism
This year’s March of the Living may be the last chance for young participants to walk alongside Holocaust survivors and bear witness to their stories. As the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany 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. In the shadow of October 7 and the subsequent surge in antisemitism around the world, that urgency has only intensified.In recent months, Holocaust survivors have once again found themselves targeted by antisemitism – this time in their own homes and communities. In Toronto, mezuzahs were torn from the doors of an apartment building housing Holocaust survivors, including Nate Leipciger, (97), a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau. To date, Nate has participated in 21 Marches of the Living, and this year he plans to attend the march on Holocaust Remembrance Day for the 22nd time. Holocaust Survivor Nate Leipciger (Photo: Ziv Koren) “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. “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 March of the Living is an educational journey that reclaims history. It transforms the death marches of the Holocaust into a march of remembrance and resilience, honoring those who perished and affirming the survival of the Jewish people. For nearly four decades, the program has brought together Holocaust survivors and hundreds of thousands of students from around the world, bridging generations through memory and shared responsibility. Elie Wiesel’s words, “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness,” guide its mission to create a living legacy of remembrance.In April 2026, on Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, survivors will once again lead the March alongside thousands of students from across the globe, a powerful testament to the endurance of memory and the resilience of the human spirit. SPONSOR A SURVIVOR Holocaust Survivor Eva Kuper and students at the 2018 March of the Living (Photo: Ryan Blau) Who will remember us when we, the last witnesses, are no longer here? Holocaust survivor Eva Kuper urges participation in the March of the Living: “We, the Holocaust survivors, are a rapidly diminishing group. We are in the last moments of being able to share with young people our firsthand testimonies. Who will remember us when we, the last witnesses, are no longer here? Time is rapidly running out.”“Marching with students allows them to learn and understand our resilience, our strength, and our determination. When the students listen to stories told by survivors like me, they are ready to accept the responsibility of becoming witnesses themselves. It is the legacy that we, the survivors, lay on their shoulders. Let us not squander the opportunity. Let us do our utmost to ensure that our legacy lives on.”Many survivors, like Nate and Eva, hope to march this Yom HaShoahwith students at the International March of the Living in Auschwitz. Holocaust Survivor Nate Leipciger giving testimony to the Canadian Delegation on the March of the Living in an Auschwitz barrack. (Photo: Igal Hecht) To make this possible, they need your help. Ensuring that survivors are able to participate – physically, logistically, and with dignity – is our moral responsibility. Bearing witness to their stories is a sacred duty, a vital link between past and future, and a powerful stand against denial, distortion, and rising antisemitism.Standing with survivors today helps ensure that their voices continue to be heard tomorrow. When the witnesses are gone, what remains is what we chose to carry forward.Your sponsorship empowers them to share their experiences, inspiring new generations to remember and fight against antisemitism. Join us. Stand with the survivors. So the world will never forget. SPONSOR A SURVIVOR
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From Darkness to Light: Holocaust survivors and former Gaza hostages Celebrate Hanukkah together
Held ahead of Hanukkah, Holocaust survivors and freed hostages who marched together at the March of the Living met to reflect…
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87 Years Since Kristallnacht: A Statement from Holocaust Survivors Who Lived Through the 1938 Pogrom
Walter Bingham (101), George Shefi (94), and Paul Alexander (90) (Photo: Sam Churchill) We, Holocaust survivors, lived through the Kristallnacht pogrom as children in Germany.We saw with our own eyes how hatred turned to flames, how indifference became complicity, and how the world stayed silent as Jews were attacked.Today, 87 years later, we look around us and say with deep pain: the world has learned nothing.Once again, Jews are murdered for being Jews. Once again, synagogues are attacked. Once again, universities remain silent in the face of incitement.Hatred of Israel and the Jewish people spreads like a plague.The world today is no safer for Jews than it was 87 years ago. In today’s atmosphere, Kristallnacht could happen again.We call on governments to act decisively to eradicate antisemitism and to strengthen Holocaust education.Learn history. Teach your children what happens when the world stays silent.We say this from a lifetime of experience: antisemitism does not disappear on its own.It grows when met with silence. It thrives where ignorance prevails. It stops only when courageous people – Jews and non-Jews alike – stand up and say: enough.Unlike the glass shattered on Kristallnacht, the Jewish spirit did not break, and will never break.Our spirit is stronger than fire, more stubborn than hate, and shines even in the darkest times.Am Yisrael Chai.Walter Bingham, George Shefi, Paul Alexander LEARN MOREEighty-seven years ago, on November 9–10, 1938, the Kristallnacht Pogrom marked a turning point in history. Across Germany and Austria, Nazi-led mobs burned and looted more than 1,400 synagogues and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, murdered scores of Jews, and sent some 30,000 to concentration camps. The shattered glass that covered the streets became a warning of what was to follow — the murder of six million Jews and the destruction of centuries of Jewish life across Europe.Today, the same forces of hatred and extremism are once again on the rise. According to the ADL, nearly half of adults worldwide — over two billion people — hold antisemitic views. In 2023 alone, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. rose by 140%, while attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions spiked globally after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel. From Manchester to Washington, D.C., Jews are once again being targeted simply for being Jewish.Attacks against Jews and Jewish targets have dramatically spiked around the world following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Most recently, two people were murdered during a terrorist attack on a Manchester synagogue in England on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Just a few months prior to that, two young Israeli embassy staffers were murdered by a terrorist gunman in Washington, D.C. Other attacks on Jewish and Israeli institutions have occurred recently in Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Denmark, and Poland.Holocaust survivors who witnessed Kristallnacht and have marched with the International March of the Living express deep alarm at these trends, warning that the atmosphere today echoes the darkest days of their youth. Walter Bingham (101), George Shefi (94), and Paul Alexander (90) were all children in Germany during Kristallnacht. Their message today is clear: the world has learned nothing. We must act now — through education, remembrance, and moral courage — to confront antisemitism and all forms of hatred before history repeats itself. READ THEIR MESSAGE Two years ago, they retraced their childhood escape from Nazi Germany. The journey, initiated by the International March of the Living, took place just one day after the October 7 attacks. From Germany, they watched as Israel’s southern communities burned during the pogrom that struck the country. They later joined the March of the Living in Poland. Their journey was documented in a short film: WATCH NOW READ MORE IN THE WASHINGTON POST “Kristallnacht sought to erase Jewish existence from public life. Eighty-seven years later, the greatest act of defiance is to live openly and proudly as Jews; to educate, to create, to build, and to stand together. Jewish pride is not a slogan; it is the quiet, steadfast continuation of everything our enemies sought to destroy.On this 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht, we remember the shattered glass, but we also remember what was never broken: the Jewish spirit. From the ruins of synagogues rose new communities; from the ashes of hate emerged generations who refused to disappear.”Scott Saunders, CEO, International March of the Living Remembering Eve Kugler, BEM (1931-2025) Eve Kugler z”l, Halle – Germany 2019 (Photo: Sam Churchill)Born in 1931 in Halle, Germany, Eve Kugler experienced the horrors of Kristallnacht first hand, before fleeing to France on the eve of World War II. In 1942, Eve received a visa to the US where she lived for the duration of war. As an adult, Eve worked as a journalist in the US before moving to London in 1990.Through her educational efforts in the UK and beyond, including her participation for over a decade in the March of the Living, Eve educated thousands of young people about the history and lessons of the Holocaust. In 2022 she made a historic visit to Dubai, giving her testimony on Kristallnacht.“Learning what happened to the Jewish people, how terrible it was, and you know, how six million people, including over a million children, perished. That this is something which should not be repeated. And if you understand it and take in what happened, hopefully, that you will do what you can in whatever small way even if it’s just speaking to other people, and telling them about what you’ve seen, and telling them, sharing even just this experience to try and make people see that they should… stop killing each other.”Eve passed away on April 23, 2025, just a day before she was scheduled to join a delegation of 80 Holocaust survivors on the March of the Living.Watch Eve Kugler’s emotional return to her birthplace in Halle, Germany, together with the UK March of the Living. Jews Forbidden! – Eve Kugler Remembers The 1938 Kristallnacht Pogrom WATCH NOW READ MORE FROM SCOTT SAUNDERS Standing Jewish, Standing Proud: Eighty-Seven Years After KristallnachtMolly Phillips, 2025 Participant at the UK March of the Living delegation“I wish I could write about an upward path of 87 years of diminishing antisemitism. But reality is painfully different. We are seeing Jews murdered in Manchester and Amsterdam, banned from football stadiums, and even arrested for wearing a Magen David. Most disturbingly, I hear our youth – students – calling for renewed violence on university campuses.It feels like my duty and my privilege to uphold Jewish life wherever I can. I find strength in the stories of our community, in our collective resilience, and in our shared will to survive. This spirit was solidified for me on March of the Living last spring. Listening to Holocaust survivors, hearing their stories of endurance and renewal, reminded me that Jewish survival is not only about living through tragedy; it is about choosing life after it.Together, we marched. We did not stroll or wander; we marched – a statement of righteous survival and defiant continuity.Looking ahead, I see love stronger than hate, kindness over cruelty, spirit over destruction. Peace may feel distant, but it is not out of reach – and a strong, proud Jewish community will help lead us there”. READ MOLLY’S OP-ED From the NewsIsraeli survivors of Kristallnacht mark 87th anniversary of Nazi riots amid rising antisemitismAP News | The HillHolocaust Survivor Walter Bingham Op-Ed JPostRevital Yakin Krakovsky Op-Ed Time of Israel
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An Embrace Across Generations
When Holocaust survivors and survivors of October 7 walked…
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“Silence is Not an Option”: Remembering Paula Lebovics, Z”L
International March of the Living mourns the recent passing of beloved Holocaust survivor and educator Paula Lebovics. Over the last few decades, Paula lived up to her lifelong motto, “silence…
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