The parade of life from the most prominent and moving events of Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Day will kick off today (Thursday) at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland, after two years of absence due to the Corona plague.
At the beginning of the parade, 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Ark Hirsch placed a tefillin at the entrance to the Auschwitz extermination camp, while reciting the Shema Yisrael prayer.
"I feel I won because I managed to survive and I also have relatives in Israel," Hirsch said.
Hirsch places tefillin at the entrance to the parade, Photo: Yuri Yalon
In addition, a representative of the United Arab Emirates participated in the torch lighting ceremony in Auschwitz.
Ethan Nishlos, a third-generation Holocaust survivor, said: "Together with my brother and friend, Ahmad Obeidi al-Mansuri from the United Arab Emirates, the founder of the first Holocaust museum in the Arab world, we are today lighting the memorial torch about a year after the signing of the historic Avraham agreements.
"We are sending a clear message to our people, to the Middle East and to the whole world - we stand firm and united against hatred in all its forms."
Nichlos added: "I stand here as the grandson of the late Holocaust survivor Tamara Zitzerman, whose story and memories we discovered in this shoebox after her death;
Memories I carry with me today.
My grandmother was saved thanks to the sacrifice of a Christian family, the Chodesevich family.
In the face of inhumanity, they chose to act heroically, and for their heroism - they paid with their lives. "
Eitan Nishlos, a third-generation Holocaust survivor, with Ahmad al-Mansuri, a representative of the Emirates,
The emirate's representative, Ahmad al-Mansuri, said: "I stand here full of hope.
Full of inspiration and courage.
I stand here today, knowing that we can overcome, and we will overcome, the darkness of the past and the darkness of the present, so that we can ensure a happy and blessed future for all our people. "
Al-Mansuri emphasized that: "Like the children of our ancestor Abraham, who came together under the covenant of Abraham, we say - أبدًا يعني أبدًا (never again, in Arabic).
Blessed be the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. "
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