Friends of the IDF delegates will join 20 IDF soldiers and two Holocaust survivors on a Holocaust remembrance journey next week in honor of Israel's 75th anniversary.
The trip, which has been dubbed "From Holocaust to Independence", will begin in Krakow, Poland and end in Israel.
In Poland, the participants will visit the Auschwitz concentration camp as well as Zbylitowaska Gora Village and Buczyna Forest where 800 children were murdered by the Nazis. They will also visit the Kupa synagogue, the Krakow Jewish ghetto and the Jewish Quarter in Krakow's Old City.
In Israel, the delegation will attend the national memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism that is held annually at the Western Wall and will be attended by President Isaac Herzog and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. They will also visit IDF bases and meet with soldiers.
The mission will culminate on April 27 after the delegates celebrate Independence Day with the rest of Israel on April 26.
The Israeli flag flying above Jerusalem's Old City. (credit: Levi Meir Clancy/Unsplash)Who are the Holocaust survivors on the trip?
The Holocaust survivors joining the trip will be Ben Midler and David Shaecter.
Midler is 95 years old and was born in Poland. He lost his whole family in the Holocaust but survived a ghetto and six concentration camps. After the Holocaust, Midler went to Palestine and fought in the Palmach in the War of Independence as Palestine became Israel.
Midler now lives in San Diego with his wife and has three daughters, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Shaecter is 94 years old and was born in Czechoslovakia. He was also the sole survivor from his family after surviving Auschwitz. A few years after the Holocaust, he moved to the US where he became a successful engineer. He is also one of the founders of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach and The March of the Living.
Shaecter lives with his wife in Miami and has two children, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
“During this historic mission on Israel’s 75th anniversary, we’ll celebrate the story of Jewish courage – from near annihilation to the triumph of establishing the state of Israel, said FIDF CEO Steve Weil. “When we march tall and proud through the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps, together with Holocaust survivors, FIDF supporters, and Israeli officers in uniform, gratefully flying the Israeli flag, we will send a clear message: We are here, we will never forget, and we will do whatever we must do to protect our country and our people to guarantee – Never Again.”
