The delegation will be led by Haim Taib, founder and president of the Menomadin Foundation, along with World Zionist Organization Chair Yaakov Hagoel and the Hostages Directorate. They will march under the banner “Never Again,” now bearing renewed urgency. Mental health professionals will accompany the group.
Also joining the march are Holocaust survivors Faina and Michael Kuperstein, grandparents of Bar Kuperstein, who is still held hostage by Hamas. From the grounds of Auschwitz, they’ll call for his release and that of all hostages. “I’ve lived through very difficult times and survived,” said Michael.
“Listening to those who returned describe the hostages’ ordeal — it’s like a second Holocaust. Bar is only 23, just starting his life. I’m 84 and I fight so my grandchildren and great-grandchildren can live better lives. I want all the hostages to come home so we can get our lives back.”
“The horrors of October 7 were the most brutal blow to Israel since its founding — and to the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It’s impossible to ignore the parallels between those atrocities and what happened on October 7, especially when 59 hostages are still held in Gaza’s tunnels under inhumane conditions," Haim Taib said.
“As we mark 80 years since the camps were liberated, we now face the torchbearers of this generation — survivors of Hamas captivity. Their march is a resounding call for resilience, revival and the eternity of Israel.”
Yaakov Hagoel added: “This year we march with those who survived Auschwitz — and those who survived Gaza. Generations will walk side by side. One bears a number on the arm; the other, a scar that won’t heal. Between them is a single clear line: we will not forget and we will not forgive.
“This march carries added meaning this year," said Hagoel. "What happened on October 7 crossed every moral and human boundary. It revealed the depth of hatred, madness and cruelty once again. This is the march of a generation that survived, rose and will not surrender. Our role is to make sure it never happens again.”
Hostages, Missing and Returnees Authority Director Yaron Cohen, said that: “The participation of the released hostages and the families of those whose bodies were returned to Israel reflects our shared hope for the swift return of all hostages. It echoes the central message of the March of the Living: ‘From Holocaust to revival.’”
Sharon Sharabi called taking part in March of the Living in Auschwitz a "great honor."
"Despite the immense emotional and physical pain, this is a vital mission — to cry out to the world on behalf of our brothers still trapped in Hamas tunnels,” he said.
Families of hostages whose bodies were returned to Israel will also march, including Vered and Reuven Yablonka, parents of Hanan who was murdered on October 7. “Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) was always a painful day for us,” said Vered. “I’m a second-generation survivor. My father, Yitzhak Alon, survived Auschwitz and came to Israel alone after his entire family was murdered.”
“My husband was the son of Holocaust survivors Chaim and Fania, who fled to the partisans in Poland. On October 7, our son Hanan went to the Nova music festival and tried to return home to Tel Aviv during the rocket attacks. On Route 232, he encountered Nukhba terrorists, was kidnapped and murdered in Gaza,” she recounted.
“His body was held for eight months in Hamas tunnels before the IDF recovered it. Yom HaShoah is even harder now. Our family was persecuted for being Jewish — and our beloved son was murdered for the same reason.”
