![\"Broward](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/tfl-l-march-of-living-2026-01.jpeg\")
Broward County students and staff during the March of the Living 2026. (March of the Living\/Courtesy)<\/p>\nIt\u2019s Holocaust Remembrance Day in Poland. Along the streets walk thousands of Jewish teens.<\/p>\n
They are silent, arm in arm.<\/p>\n
Their mission: to march from Auschwitz to Birkenau, a 2-mile trek connecting the two Nazi camp sectors \u2014 a route regularly taken by prisoners during World War II.<\/p>\n
Among them is a group of 81 juniors and seniors from Broward County schools. They have spent the year studying for this march, spending their free time learning about Jewish life during the war and how propaganda led to the Holocaust. And yet, nothing can truly prepare them for this moment.<\/p>\n
There are tears, anger, desperation. But there is also hope, connection and community.<\/p>\n
This is March of the Living (MOL), an annual trip that takes students to historical sites around Poland such as synagogues and communities where Jews once flourished. It ends with the march at the concentration and extermination camps.<\/p>\n
Broward County students and staff during the March of the Living 2026. (March of the Living\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea behind March of the Living is to obviously give students historical knowledge by studying and traveling, but it\u2019s also to strengthen and expand their personal Jewish identity,\u201d says Galit Alboukrek, director of Teen Engagement and March of the Living at the Jewish Federation of Broward County, which hosted the group\u2019s trip.<\/p>\n
We had the opportunity to speak with some of the students who made the journey from April 12 to 26.<\/p>\n
\u2018How could I not go?\u2019: Honoring their ancestors<\/p>\n
Many students on the trip have great-grandparents who survived the Holocaust.<\/p>\n
Daniel Oren, 18, of Hollywood, has always felt a special connection to his great-grandfather, who survived by hiding out in the forest and escaping concentration camps. After he passed away in 2015, Oren honored him by writing \u201czayde\u201d (Yiddish for grandfather) on his wrist while playing football. \u201cHe was with me every single game,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
For Oren, being on the march meant the opportunity to stand in the forest in Poland, a place where his great-grandfather spent a majority of the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to give my testimony of my zayde and put down a rock in honor of him,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was very emotional for me to be able to share his story.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Daniel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/tfl-l-march-of-living-2026-03-e1779914141528.jpeg\")
Daniel Oren, 18, wraps tefillin during the March of the Living 2026. (Daniel Oren\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n
Sofia Woiler, 18, of Miami, had a close bond with her great-grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor along with her great-grandfather. \u201cShe was just an inspiration for me my entire life,\u201d she says. \u201cI always looked up to her because she is the strongest person I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woiler\u2019s mother also attended the march as a teenager, eventually becoming president of March of the Living Brazil. \u201cHaving this background with the Holocaust and my mom being involved, it was kind of like: How could I not go?\u201d Woiler adds.<\/p>\n
Other students \u2014 particularly those who attend Jewish day schools (a big cohort came from David Posnack Jewish Day School in Davie) \u2014 always knew they would take this trip.<\/p>\n
Austin Ben-Shmuel, 18, of Golden Beach said he knew ever since middle school. And while he admits that his parents pushed him to participate, he describes the experience as \u201ceye-opening, inspiring and a truly life-changing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of his peers mirrored those sentiments.<\/p>\n
![\"Broward](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/tfl-l-march-of-living-2026-04.jpeg\")
Broward County students comfort Norma Menasche, a Holocaust survivor, during the March of the Living. (March of the Living\/Courtesy)
\n\u2018It was more inspiring than sad\u2019: Exceeding expectations<\/p>\n
As a trip set mainly in concentration camps, sadness is often the top expectation. And while tears flow, most students and staff do not describe the trip as sad upon returning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are standing where death and suffering took place, so I think people assume it\u2019s emotional and the kids will come back depressed, and that\u2019s not the case,\u201d Alboukrek says. \u201cBecause it\u2019s emotional, something clicks in the teens\u2019 brains where they realize my ancestors suffered so I have to be loud and proud to be Jewish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliana Yisrael, 18, of Miami says she hadn\u2019t realized beforehand how much the march would influence her to become more Israeli and more Jewish. \u201cIt caused me to dive into my roots and my familial history,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Yisrael was planning to attend the University of Florida in the fall, but after her experience on the march, she decided to do a gap year in Israel instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really excited to go to UF, and I still am, but I feel like I\u2019m doing myself a disservice by not going to Israel,\u201d she says. \u201cThe march really put things into perspective for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
To keep spirits up, Alboukrek says students gather every night to participate in activities meant to uplift. These include nightly \u201cbus sessions,\u201d where the teens share their experience from the day and spend time reflecting and processing, as well as Shabbat celebrations with teens from around the world and Kabbalat services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community brings them up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/tfl-l-march-of-living-2026-07.jpeg\")
From right, Galit Alboukrek, Austin Ben-Shmuel, Holocaust survivor Norma Menasche and survivor companion Randi Grossman during a nightly “bus session” during March of the Living. (Ben-Shmuel\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n
Ben-Shmuel felt a profound impact from these activities, saying they allowed him to see the positive side of the trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more inspiring than sad,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a lot of spirit and I feel like we accomplished what they wanted us to accomplish by bringing more life and showing that we are here and able to march.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the camps, Poland is also home to synagogues that have been preserved and now act as museums. MOL participants tour these places to get a better understanding of Jewish life during those times.<\/p>\n
In one of these synagogues, Woiler experienced a favorite moment. While standing in the empty place of worship, students began to sing and dance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were bringing back the Jewish spirit to that synagogue that\u2019s just been sitting there dried out,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was just a couple of minutes but that meant so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Students](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/tfl-l-march-of-living-2026-04-rotated-e1779914225670.jpg\")
Students expressed feeling a stronger sense of Zionism after attending the March of the Living. (Daniel Oren\/Courtesy)
\n\u2018It was just so shocking\u2019: Antisemitism on the march<\/p>\n
The trip, however, was not spared from antisemitism.<\/p>\n
While walking along the streets of Poland, the Broward County group and others noticed an Israeli flag plastered with red. Some students recalled initially thinking it was blood before realizing the flag had been defaced with ketchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember smelling the ketchup from where I was standing,\u201d Woiler says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was standing there with my jaw dropped,\u201d Ben-Shmuel adds. \u201cIt was just so shocking to see how the world has changed and there\u2019s so much hate out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of getting angry, the students used that moment to do something profound. They took down the flag and replaced it with a new one. Back at their hotel, they cleaned off the ketchup, taking the now-clean Israeli flag back home with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sang the \u2018Hatikvah\u2019 [Israel\u2019s national anthem] while we did it,\u201d Yisrael says. \u201cAnd that was a really powerful moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Sofia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/tfl-l-march-of-living-2026-06-rotated.jpeg\")
Sofia Woiler with Holocaust survivor Norma Menasche. (March of the Living\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n
The students described other antisemitic incidents during the trip. A man on a bicycle screamed \u201cF\u2014Israel\u201d as the teens waited to board their bus, while a driver made a throat-slitting gesture as a group crossed a street. Nearby, anti-Zionist posters lined the walls near the Warsaw Ghetto.<\/p>\n
Living in what they referred to as the \u201cJewish bubble\u201d in South Florida, many of the students say they had never experienced something like that themselves. The moment caused a lot of heartbreak, but also introspection.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was disturbed but, this is harsh to say, I am also happy that it happened because we were able to get some firsthand experience,\u201d Oren says. \u201cWe live in South Florida and we rarely see that in person, we only see it on the news. It opened my eyes to the fact that this happens to so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/tfl-l-march-of-living-2026-01_4a7033.jpeg\")
A Broward County student walks with a survivor during the March of the Living 2026. (March of the Living\/Courtesy)
\n\u2018I feel so much more confident in my Judaism\u2019: Off to college<\/p>\n
MOL is geared toward juniors and seniors due to emotional and social maturity, according to Alboukrek. But in today\u2019s atmosphere of college encampments and increased antisemitism on campuses, the trip is also a way to prepare the teens for life outside of their hometown where they may encounter hate.<\/p>\n
Many of the students say they plan to be involved with Jewish life on campus, whether that means being part of a Hillel chapter, wrapping tefillin or finding other Jews to observe Shabbat with. But more than that, they say they are prepared to stand up for their Judaism and their Zionism with educated responses that now come from this firsthand experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so much more confident in my Judaism and I know if anyone comes up to me and says the Holocaust never happened, I can pull up my phone and pull up pictures of the places I went to,\u201d Woiler says.<\/p>\n
As these South Florida teens prepare for college, one thing is for sure: They will be bringing their Jewish pride with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe march inspired me to be more vocal about being Jewish,\u201d Ben-Shmuel says. \u201cI want to have an impact on the world \u2014 I don\u2019t just want to be Jewish, I\u2019m always proud to be Jewish \u2014 I want to start something that\u2019s going to be better for the world and for the Jews of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n