Friday, May 02, 2008

"Never Again"

OSWIECIM, POLAND -- Some 10,000 young Jews, Poles and World War II survivors took part in the March of the Living on Thursday, an annual event at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau that honors the memory of some 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

This year's march, the 17th, started with the blowing of the shofar, or ram's horn, at the iron gate -- crowned with the words "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Sets You Free" -- that leads into the former camp of Auschwitz.

The misleading inscription was to suggest to inmates they were coming to work, not die here.

The Israeli army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, led the long column of marchers, accompanied by some camp survivors carrying the Torah and fellow Israeli troops in uniform.

"Each and every one of us should do our utmost to ensure: Never again," Ashkenazi said.

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