Survivors of the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, freed hostages and hostages’ family members carried Israeli flags and sang the Israeli national anthem “Hatikvah” as they walked through the main gate of the Auschwitz death camp Wednesday.
The group toured the site ahead of the annual March of the Living event, which sees thousands of participants walk alongside Holocaust survivors from Auschwitz to Birkenau to memorialize those lost.
Kibbutz Be’eri survivor Daniel Weiss, whose parents were killed by terrorists on October 7, 2023, walked barefoot through the camp while leading the group in song.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from?” sang Weiss, a musician in his 20s, as he led a rendition of Psalm 121.
“O Guardian of Israel, guard the remnant of Israel, and suffer not Israel to perish, who say, Hear, O Israel,” the group sang softly in unison.
Among the group were former hostages Agam Berger and Ori Megidish, who met Holocaust survivors Irene Shashar and Gita Kaufman at the camp entrance, where the four shared embraces.
Kibbutz Be’eri survivor Daniel Weiss sings with hostage family members under the gate of Auschwitz on April 23, 2025 (Courtesy)
“We beat the enemy, right girls?” declared Shashar, according to Ynet. “We experienced horror, but despite everything, we are here, standing firm in the face of evil.”
At the Majdanek concentration camp, released hostages Moran Stella Yanai and Keith Siegel also participated in a memorial ceremony.
The group of released hostages visited the 16th-century Remah synagogue in Krakow on Tuesday, where Berger and her mother, along with Shelly Shem Tov, the mother of released hostage Omer Shem Tov, and Laly Derai, mother of slain soldier Saadia Derai, stood in the courtyard of the Orthodox synagogue.
They sang the Krakow Nigun, a wordless melody composed by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach decades ago when he first visited the ancient synagogue.
Bereaved Israelis, relatives of hostages and released hostages sing Hatikvah at Auschwitz, April 23, 2025 (Dov Gil-Har for KAN via X)
Members of the group were also filmed singing “Hatikvah” at an Auschwitz gas chamber.
״התקווה״: משלחת שורדי השבי ובני המשפחות בתא הגזים באושוויץ 1. pic.twitter.com/rwyPO6JY9r
— Dov Gil-Har (@DovGilHar) April 23, 2025
Ten released and rescued hostages were to attend the March of the Living on Thursday, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Families of hostages and of those killed in the October 7 attack were also to be present, along with around 80 Holocaust survivors aged 80 to 97. Survivors include Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, who was freed from Buchenwald as a child and served as Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi.
This year’s march comes on the heels of a report released by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, known as the Claims Conference, which found that around half of Holocaust survivors alive today are expected to be dead within six years, underlining the urgency of preserving their stories.
Prior to the march, Israeli President Isaac Herzog will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda to discuss efforts to free the remaining 59 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, 24 of whom are thought to be alive, as well as efforts to combat antisemitism.
Last year, 23 survivors and relatives of those killed in the October 7, 2023, attack took part in the march.
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