The 31st “2019 March of the Living” is a march, in contrast to the death marches, which aims at celebrating the memory of the six million Jews exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps, and sending a message for a stronger condemnation of antisemitism.
The March will be held tomorrow, Thursday, May 2, in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Krakow, and will be attended by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, at the invitation of the International Organizing Committee of the March and the Greek section of the International Humanitarian Organization “AGAPE”.
For this purpose Ecumenical Patriarch departs from Constantinople to Krakow this afternoon.
The Ecumenical Patriarch will be heading the March, involving political leaders and about twenty thousand ordinary citizens from all over the world, who will walk 3 km between the camps of Auschwitz I and Birkenau, like tens of thousands Jews killed by the Nazis were forced to march.
On the afternoon of the same day, the Ecumenical Patriarch will attend the inauguration of the exhibition on victims from Greece in Auschwitz, the vast majority of whom were Jews. The exhibition will be opened by the President of the Hellenic Parliament, Nikolaos Voutsis, who officially invited the Ecumenical Patriarch.
On Friday morning, May 3, the Ecumenical Patriarch will depart for the capital of Poland, Warsaw, where he will have a meeting with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Poland, Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw.
On his official visit to Poland, the Ecumenical Patriarch will be accompanied by Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Archimandrite Agathagelos Siskos and Archivist of the Patriarchate, Archon Megas Hartophylax Panteleimon Vigas, the Director of Press and Communication Office of the Patriarchate, Nikolaos Papachristou, and photographer/reporter Nikolaos Magginas.