March of Life
The March of Life (not to be confused with the demonstration of the “ March for Life ” or “ March of the Living ” movement) is an international movement with Christian-Jewish commemoration and reconciliation events that started in 2007 with a memorial march by Christians on the Route of the death march from the Swabian Alb to Dachau began. The registered association Marsch des Lebens e. V.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel , a great March of Nations with 6000 participants took place in Jerusalem on May 15, 2018.
Origin and concerns
The March of Life goes back to an initiative by Jobst and Charlotte Bittner and the Evangelical-Free Church TOS Services from Tübingen in Germany. Together with descendants of German Wehrmacht, police and SS members, they organize memorial and reconciliation marches at places of the Shoah in Europe and worldwide. Since the movement began in 2007, marches have taken place in over 20 nations and more than 370 cities. The organizers and participants are mainly Christians of different denominations and Jewish communities.
On its homepage, the movement names the three main concerns of the events:
- Remembering - coming to terms with the past, giving Holocaust survivors a voice.
- Reconciliation - healing and restoration between the descendants of the perpetrator and victim generation.
- Setting an example - for Israel and against modern anti-Semitism
After the First March of Life in 2007, there have been an increasing number of Marches of Life every year. In the USA marches have been taking place since 2009 under the name “March of Remembrance”. Often representatives from Germany take part in the marches abroad. The aim, however, is for local communities to take responsibility for the organization and implementation. With Poland there were also follow-up events on German-Polish friendship and reconciliation.
Marches of Life Worldwide
| country | year |
| Argentina | Since 2017 |
| Bolivia | Since 2011 |
| Germany | Since 2007 |
| Dominican Republic | Since 2018 |
| Ecuador | Since 2016 |
| France | Since 2017 |
| Israel | Since 2017 |
| Canada | Since 2017 |
| Colombia | Since 2017 |
| Latvia | 2011 |
| Lithuania | 2011 |
| Austria | Since 2013 |
| Paraguay | Since 2011 |
| Peru | Since 2011 |
| Philippines | Since 2017 |
| Poland | Since 2012 |
| Romania | Since 2018 |
| Switzerland | Since 2016 |
| Ukraine | Since 2010 |
| Hungary | 2014 |
| United States | Since 2009 |
| United Kingdom | Since 2016 |
Appearance
In a march of life there is usually a kick-off event and a final event ("Festival of Life"), similar to a demonstration, and sometimes other events along the way. Historians, representatives of public life and Holocaust survivors are invited to tell their stories during the event.
The longest march of life to date covered a distance of 2200 km, which was divided into stages over five days.
The participants usually wear white T-shirts with the March of Life logo or appropriate stickers. Usually there is a march of life banner that identifies the march as a reconciliation and anti-racism event. In addition to the Israeli flag, this is often followed by the flags of the host country, Germany and the participating or represented nations.
Most of the marches of life take place annually around the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day " Yom haScho'a ". Anyone who agrees to the basic values of the March of Life can organize one, regardless of religion or denomination, as well as political convictions. Right-wing or right-wing populist groups are excluded .
Methods
Personal and local history processing
The center and distinguishing feature of the March of Life Movement from other commemorative events is the willingness of the participants to work up their own family history with regard to involvement in National Socialism , sometimes in extensive research, and to take responsibility for it as far as possible. This includes making contact with survivors and their descendants from your own place of residence or the place where your ancestors were involved in crimes. This opens up a very personal framework and emotional access for both sides.
In second place after the personal reappraisal is the joint reappraisal of the local history. It was recorded in exhibitions as part of the Marches of Life in Tübingen and Leipzig and is shown on certain occasions or as a permanent exhibition.
Publications
In his book The Blanket of Silence , published in 2012 , which has meanwhile been translated into six languages, the author and March of Life founder Jobst Bittner describes in detail the history and concerns of the movement from a historical, psychological and theological perspective.
In 2018, the same author published the book Raise your voice and become light .
In the same year, the graduate theologian Stefan Haas published a Bible study on the subject of "the permanent election of the Jewish people" under the title Elect , in which the anti-Judaism of church history is also dealt with.
In 2017 TOS-Verlag, March of Life Edition, published the autobiography of Auschwitz survivor Jehuda Berkovits, who took part in events of the March of Life movement in Germany, Hungary and Israel.
The association in Tübingen publishes a March of Life information magazine at regular intervals. It can be obtained free of charge and downloaded from the homepage.
Seminars, conferences, cultural events
March of Life conferences have been held regularly in Tübingen since 2016, to which guest speakers, Holocaust survivors and all organizers of Marches of Life are invited.
In addition, the Tübingen association offers seminars on the “ceiling of silence” for those interested and especially as preparation for new organizers, which can either be held on site or purchased on DVD.
In addition, there are always seminars spread over the year with the opportunity to deal with topics related to the movement such as modern anti-Semitism or culture of remembrance.
The association calls for guest speakers to be invited and for information and cultural events to be held to raise awareness of anti-Semitism, local history and the rich Jewish culture. In this sense, the “Hanukkah Days” take place in Tübingen every year on the occasion of the Jewish Festival of Lights.
Music, dance and theater
Various creative elements emerged in the course of the March of Life movement. The best known is a music video in which descendants of Nacifiers, friends of Israel, sing the Israeli national anthem HaTikwa and then tell their family story.
In the musical Never Again Silence , the student Hannah in Haifa learns that her grandmother's first husband was shot by the Germans on the day of his wedding because he was Jewish. At the same time, Hannah's friend Lukas in Germany finds the notes of his grandfather in the attic, who committed this murder and never spoke about it.
Cooperations and events in Israel
Cooperation and trips to Israel related to the movement have been organized since 2015 from the March of Life House in Caesarea , where events for Holocaust survivors also take place regularly in cooperation with the organization Helping Hand Coalition - Global Forum.
Since December 2015, young representatives of the March of Life movement have been repeatedly invited by various schools in Israel to tell their personal family stories and, on this basis, to talk to their Israeli peers.
In June 2015, ALEH Negev Chairman Major General (res.) Doron Almog and March of Life founder Jobst Bittner agreed a cooperation between the two organizations. Since August 2015, the March of Life has been sending volunteers from Germany to support work with people with disabilities in the ALEH network. The project is supported by the International Youth Voluntary Service (IJFD).
March of the Nations
On May 15, 2018, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel, a great march of the nations with 6000 participants from Israel and over 50 nations took place. The march ended in the open air arena Sultan's Pool with a Festival of Life, during which the nations expressed their solidarity with Israel and declared that they would speak out against anti-Semitism in their countries.
In the two days before the march, an international conference with 2000 participants took place, which served to intensively examine the Holocaust and the role of Christian anti-Judaism, which is thousands of years old.
March of Life Award
The March of Life Prize is an ideal and material award that the March of Life e. V. awards every year. The prize is awarded to people and groups who
- have made valuable contributions to coming to terms with the Shoah,
- have made a special contribution to the reconciliation between perpetrators and victims of the Holocaust and their descendants,
- support the State of Israel in a special way.
In 2017, the association awarded the first March of Life Prize to the Auschwitz historian Gideon Greif . In 2018 the prize was awarded to Major General a. D. Doron Almog, who founded the ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran charity, which cares for children and adults with severe disabilities at the highest level.
Awards
In 2011 and 2015, the March of Life was recognized by the Knesset , the Israeli parliament, for its special commitment to Holocaust survivors.
On April 25, 2017, the Jewish community in Halle (Saale) awarded the Tübinger Verein Marsch des Lebens e. V. the Emil L. Fackenheim Prize for tolerance and understanding.
Supporters and partners
- Helping Hand Coalition Global Forum, Israel
- ALEH, Israel
- International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ)
- Israel Allies Foundation, Belgium
- European Coalition for Israel (ECI), Belgium
- Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, Israel
- Christians on the side of Israel, Germany
- Ebenezer Operation Exodus, Germany
criticism
One of the most frequent points of criticism of the movement is the view that subsequent generations are not to blame for the deeds of their ancestors and can therefore only accept responsibility for them to a limited extent, or that there can be no proxy for forgiveness.
Criticism is also directed against various theological interpretations of the events.
Some critics suspect missionary goals under the guise of a reconciliation movement.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The day the descendant of Nazis apologized to me . In: The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com . ( jpost.com [accessed June 5, 2018]).
- ↑ יש גרמנים אחרים . In: ynet . June 21, 2017 ( yediot.co.il [accessed June 5, 2018]).
- ↑ “You Jew” is a dirty word . In: Schwäbisches Tagblatt online . ( tagblatt.de [accessed on June 5, 2018]).
- ↑ Hanukkah and Christmas lights intertwine in former Nazi hotbed | JNS.org. Retrieved June 5, 2018 (American English).
- ↑ March of Life: March of Life Israel Channel2. June 12, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2018 .
- ↑ Thousands of Supporters of Israel March in Jerusalem | Lev Haolam. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 5, 2018 (American English). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ PHOTOS: Thousands Of Israel Supporters Take Part In The March Of The Nations . In: Yeshiva World News . May 16, 2018 ( theyeshivaworld.com [accessed June 5, 2018]).
- ^ Emil L. Fackenheim Prize for Tolerance and Understanding 2017 - Saxony-Anhalt State Association. Retrieved June 5, 2018 (German).
- ^ Central Council of Jews in Germany Kdö.R .: Dresden: Controversial Commemoration | Jewish general. Accessed June 5, 2018 .
- ^ March of Life eV: Open letter to the organizers and organizers of Marches of Life. In: marschdeslebens.org. Marsch des Lebens eV, March 5, 2017, accessed on June 4, 2018 .
- ↑ I will NOT take part in the “March of Life”! | Thinking for the glory of God | Dierk Müller. Retrieved June 5, 2018 (German).
