March of Remembrance and Hope - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The March of Remembrance and Hope (MRH) is a program designed for university and college students of all religions and backgrounds. The program takes place in mid-May, and includes a two-day trip to Germany, followed by a five day visit to Poland. The international MRH program was founded in 2001 by Dr. David Machlis of the United States and Eli Rubenstein of Canada, both of whom were involved in the March of the Living

March of the Living

The March of the Living, is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust...

program.

During the trip students visit locations in Germany and Poland related to the Holocaust and other World War II genocides, including the site of the Wannsee Conference

Wannsee Conference

The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...

, and the former concentration/death camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Majdanek

Majdanek

Majdanek was a German Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts of Lublin, Poland, established during the German Nazi occupation of Poland. The camp operated from October 1, 1941 until July 22, 1944, when it was captured nearly intact by the advancing Soviet Red Army...

.

The purpose of the March of Remembrance and Hope is to teach students of different religious and ethnic backgrounds about the dangers of intolerance through the study of the Holocaust and other World War II genocides, and to promote better relations among people of diverse cultures.

Holocaust survivors also participate in the March of Remembrance and Hope program sharing their painful memories in the very places in which their stories transpired. During the trip, the students also meet one of the Righteous Among the Nations

Righteous Among the Nations

Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....

, and learn of the heroic actions a minority of Europe's population took to resist Nazi tyranny.

Since its inception, students of many diverse religions, backgrounds and ethnicities have taken part in the March of Remembrance and Hope program, including: Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Seventh Day Adventist and many others. In addition, students who come from their own history of persecution (such as survivors of the Rwandan Genocide

Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...

, First Nation students, African Americans etc.) have also participated in the March of Remembrance and Hope.

Presently, the program is run annually in Canada for Canadian university students, by the
Canadian Centre for Diversity along with the cooperation of other organizations.

The international MRH program is currently on hold, but there are American groups who have traveledl with the Canadian delegation, namely Nazareth College

Nazareth College

Nazareth College is the name of more than one college:* Nazareth College , closed January 1992* Nazareth College , an institution of higher education in the United States...

and Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...

. There is also an Austrian program by the same name for university students of diverse backgrounds that travels to Poland earlier during the year, during the March of the Living

March of the Living

The March of the Living, is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust...

(MOL). In 2010, Nazareth College

Nazareth College

Nazareth College is the name of more than one college:* Nazareth College , closed January 1992* Nazareth College , an institution of higher education in the United States...

and Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

launched their own program called The March: Bearing Witness to Hope - http://morah.naz.edu/.

(While there are similarities, MRH and MOL are two different programs. MRH is primarily aimed at university students of diverse backgrounds, does not include a trip to Israel, and its goals are of a universal nature. MOL is primarily aimed at Jewish high school students, and in addition to universal goals, also includes goals related to Jewish identity and connection to Israel, and usually includes a week long trip to Israel following the Poland portion of the trip.)

Two student organizations in Canada dedicated to teaching tolerance and combating genocide, "’Shout Canada "’ and "’Stand Canada "’, were founded by students who participated in Marches to Poland. Many of the student leaders and active members of these two organizations are alumni of the March of Remembrance and Hope program.

On January 27, 2007, International Holocaust Remembrance Day

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, is an international memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide that resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazi regime.. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly...

, Ms. Marie Mirlande Noel, an African American student at the College of St. Elizabeth, and a graduate of the MRH program, addressed the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

about her experience on the March of Remembrance and Hope program.

Goals of the March of Remembrance and Hope Program

To never again allow for the unchecked rise of the menace of anti-Semitism or any kind of racial discrimination directed by any individual or group in society against another to gain strength. Included in this goal is the teaching that all human beings are equal, precious and valued, and the diminution of the dignity of any member of the human family is a cardinal violation of all ethical teachings.
To recognize and learn from the altruistic actions of the "righteous among the nations", who teach us to never be a bystander in the face of oppression.
To remember those who perished, to be a witness, thus denying Hitler a "posthumous victory". The role of the survivor is a key element in this goal.
To pay tribute to the courage of those who survived the Holocaust, who rebuilt their lives despite the haunting memories of the past.
To honor the heroic veterans of World War II who fought to liberate Europe from the hands of Nazi tyranny.
To welcome opportunities to learn about participants' different ethnicities and beliefs so that we may transcend our religious, political, and cultural boundaries in order to bear witness to the common humanity we all share.
To inspire participants to commit to building a world free of oppression and intolerance, a world of freedom, democracy and justice, for all members of the human family. Related to this goal is to teach the message that, when participants return to their communities, each of them has the ability to make a real and lasting difference in the world.
The final goal is not so much to learn from or about history, but to enter into history. By visiting Germany and Poland, students are taking part in a commemorative act that declares that the memory of six million Jews and millions of other innocent victims - Poles, Roma and Sinti, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, the disabled and political prisoners - who were murdered during the Holocaust and World War II, has been marked and will never be forgotten.

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