Shalom,

This year, “The March of the Living” marks 60 years since the liberation of the death camps and the end of World War Two.  The joy of victory in the War was brief and bitter, tinged with sadness, pain and terrible rage over the murder of millions of Jews on the soil of Europe, and the destruction of entire Jewish communities.  The Nazi horrors will be eternally etched in disgrace in the chronicles of nations.

I asked Holocaust survivors who survived the inferno and built their homes in Israel to join the Delegation.  I read the stories of the survivors, and was moved and pained.  Every story is an entire world, moving and fascinating, about family, friends and communities, which were obliterated with cold and calculating cruelty.  When they are gathered together, they tell the stories of the history of our people in the previous century.  It is a terrible story of physical and spiritual torment, but also of the triumph of the spirit and the victory of hope.

Out of the horrific inferno, against all odds, they succeeded in not only saving their souls, but they also made Aliyah to the Land of Israel, became partners in its revival, and established wonderful families.  The grandchildren of many of these survivors are soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces, and are accompanying the Delegation.

Their story is the story of the victory of life.

Ariel Sharon
Prime Minister