OSWIECIM, Poland: Released Gaza hostages joined Holocaust survivors on Monday for an annual march in southern Poland to commemorate victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Survivors of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas also joined the “March of the Living” at the site, which has become a symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of European Jews.
“I came to show that we’re alive and that we’ve built a country,” Bella Haim, 86, told AFP.
Her grandson Yotam Haim was captured by Hamas militants on October 7 and later gunned down in Gaza by Israeli soldiers who failed to realize he had escaped from his captors.
“I told myself that I couldn’t remain silent and I’m marching here in the name of my grandson Yotam and the victims” of the attack, Bella said.
She was part of an Israeli delegation that flew to Poland for the march in the southern city of Oswiecim, which numbered around 8,000 people this year.
Every year, Jews and non-Jews from around the world take part in the event at the site of the former death camp, which was built by Nazi Germany after it invaded Poland.
One million European Jews died at the camp between 1940 and 1945 along with around 80,000 non-Jewish Poles, 25,000 Roma and 20,000 Soviet soldiers.
The camp was liberated by the Red Army in January 1945.
This year’s March of the Living was briefly disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters who spoke out against what they called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
The militants also took some 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 128 remain in Gaza. The army says 35 of them are dead.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,735 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Ex-Gaza hostages in Auschwitz for March of the Living
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Ex-Gaza hostages in Auschwitz for March of the Living
- One million European Jews died at the camp between 1940 and 1945 along with around 80,000 non-Jewish Poles, 25,000 Roma and 20,000 Soviet soldiers
Despite criticism, DJ priest hits a high note with some Lebanese
- The performance drew 2,000 attendees, but it also sparked opposition from some Christians in Lebanon
- A recent performance in Slovakia incorporated a special message from Pope Leo
BEIRUT: In a packed Beirut nightclub, electronic beats pulsed alongside projected videos of popes in white robes as Catholic priest Father Guilherme Peixoto spun tracks on the turntable.
The performance drew 2,000 attendees, but it also sparked opposition from some Christians in Lebanon, the first time the man known as Padre Guilherme to his 2.6 million Instagram followers says he has faced such vocal objection.
“If you don’t feel comfortable with what I’m doing, please pray for me. Because I cannot do anything more about that. It’s a free world and it needs to be free,” he told Reuters.
BACKING FROM A POPE
Peixoto’s foray into electronic music started in his native Portugal more than a decade ago as a way to raise funds for parish debts. Since then, he has toured the world. Pope Francis blessed his headphones. A recent performance in Slovakia incorporated a special message from Pope Leo.
But in Lebanon, a small yet vocal group, including some clergy, filed a formal complaint seeking to cancel Peixoto’s event, claiming it distorted Christian images and customs and violated the church’s morals.
Beirut has a vibrant electronic music scene and is seen as one of the most socially liberal cities in the region, though religious and political leaders have had some success in censoring films, plays and other performances they deem offensive.
To some, the complaint against Peixoto felt inconsistent with the support he has won from Catholic leaders.
“I don’t see why the priests in Lebanon are unhappy with this idea, because two popes didn’t have a problem with it,” said Charbel Hatem, a 19-year-old student who attended Peixoto’s Mass at a local university hours before the DJ set.
The show went ahead after a judge rejected the complaint, with Peixoto performing in a t-shirt printed with loaves and fishes, a reference to a biblical miracle.
“Not all need to like what I’m doing, but they need to respect,” he said, adding that if he returns to Lebanon, he hopes to explain his music to his critics.
“It’s music to bring the church outside of the church,” he said.
PEACE, ON AND OFF THE DANCEFLOOR
As she left the club, Cecile Freiha, 36, told Reuters that the image of a dove, projected throughout the concert, reminded her of Pope Leo’s December visit to Lebanon, part of his first foreign tour.
“We felt it was a continuity and message for us also. Religion is a message of love, of openness,” she said.
Like Leo, Peixoto hopes to bring a message of peace to a country grappling with Israel’s near-daily strikes and fears of further escalation.
“We need to live as a family, of course with different religions or even without religion. But this is our house. And if you live in Lebanon, Lebanon is your house – for all,” he said.
