New York, NY, April 20, 2005 …To mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, college students nationwide, both Jewish and non-Jewish, will join Anti-Defamation League (ADL) delegation to participate in the 2005 March of the Living (MOTL). From May 3 to May 12, they will participate in an international educational program that brings over 18,000 individuals to see the remnants of the Holocaust and the modern day state of Israel. In Poland, they will commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day and in Israel, they will observe Yom Hazikaron, Israel Memorial Day and Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day.

"This year's March of the Living is especially touching and emotional because we will be commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "This trip will teach young people, both Jews and non-Jews, the importance of remembering the Holocaust at a time when survivors are dying and individuals still continue to deny it happened." 

In this group of students, many of whom have traveled to Israel before, several are non-Jewish Judaic studies majors at City College of New York (CCNY) and others are students from all over the country, who attend UCLA, University of California-Berkley, Brooklyn College, Indiana State University, Brandeis University, University of Northern Colorado, Dowling College in New York, University of Miami, Emerson College in Boston, George Washington University and University of Tampa. These students, who are studying a variety of academic disciplines, have been involved in their local ADL regions since high school and two participated on ADL's mission to Japan, where they held dialogue with Japanese school and community leaders to discuss issues of diversity.

Others have completed ADL's A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Peer Training Program, which prepares young people to use the power of peer pressure to motivate other students to reflect upon their stereotypes and assumptions and take action against prejudice and bigotry in their schools and communities. 

The American college students will join the 18,000 on MOTL May 5 for a three-kilometer march that retraces the final steps of the countless Jews and others from the concentration camp at Auschwitz to the gas chambers and crematoria at Birkenau.

One of the highlights of the journey will be a program called Expressions of Understanding: Words, Music, Dance, Art & Film, which will present pieces of how Poles weave memories of the Jews of Poland and the Holocaust into their creative lives and of the vibrant Jewish life that once was an integral part of Poland. This event will also show that Jewish life in Poland continues to exist as it struggles to reestablish its foothold in this country where Jews have lived for nearly a thousand years.

In Poland, the students are also expected to visit the Warsaw Ghetto and the factory in Krakow owned and operated by Oscar Schindler, a businessman who saved 1,200 Jews from the death camps.

In Israel, they will visit both contemporary and ancient sites, including the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, the Western Wall, the Knesset, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Beer Sheva, Masada and the Dead Sea.

Polish and Israeli college students will join their peers from the American universities for part of the experience. 

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.