Holocaust Survivors Lead March of the Living in Hungary 80 Years After Liberation

Tuesday, 13 May 2025 | Eighty years after the fall of Nazi Germany and the liberation of concentration camps across Europe, 60 Holocaust survivors led more than 5,000 participants through the streets of Budapest on Sunday in a solemn and powerful March of the Living, commemorating the victims of one of history’s darkest chapters. 

The march honored the memory of over 550,000 Hungarian Jews murdered during the Holocaust—437,000 of whom were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in just eight weeks between May and July of 1944, in one of the most rapid and devastating deportation operations of the Nazi regime. 

Participants, including students, educators, dignitaries and members of the public, walked in silence past some of Budapest’s most significant Jewish memorials: the Shoes on the Danube Bank Memorial, Jerusalem Park and the Várkert Bazár. The event culminated in a moving ceremony featuring speeches, performances and heartfelt tributes. 

The Hungarian march coincided with global commemorations marking 80 years since the end of World War II and the liberation of Nazi death camps. 

Michel Gourary, director for Europe of the International March of the Living, addressed the importance of remembrance and vigilance. 

“We must teach our children that history is not distant,” said Gourary. “That evil can wear a familiar face. That prejudice, once normalized, becomes law. That silence, once accepted, becomes complicity. The March of the Living is not only about remembering the past. It is about educating future generations to stand against antisemitism and bigotry in all its forms.” 

The Hungarian event followed last month’s International March of the Living in Poland, where 150 Hungarian high school students and their teachers marched alongside Holocaust survivors and descendants from across the globe. Their participation reflects the program’s focus on youth engagement and historical education, particularly at a time when Holocaust denial and antisemitism are on the rise worldwide. 

Among the participants in Poland was Israel Shaked, a native of Hungary who lost 120 members of his extended family in the Holocaust. Born in 1942, Shaked was only two years old when he and his surviving family members were forced from the Debrecen ghetto and deported by train. Initially destined for Auschwitz, the train was rerouted to Vienna to supply forced labor to counter the Allied bombings. Months later, the family endured a death march to Mauthausen. Shaked was ultimately liberated from a sub-camp in May 1945. 

“I was a witness to the darkness,” said Shaked. “There were 130 people in our large and illustrious family. Only 10 of us survived. Despite everything, we will march with pride, in every place, carrying with honor our identity as members of the eternal nation. 

“I choose hope. Do not let hatred win,” he continued. “Never again—for anyone, anywhere, at any time.”