March of the Living Australia targets a new, non-Jewish audience

Students from a private non-Jewish school are the latest group to join the pilgrimage to Poland and Israel.

In a break with its origins, March of The Living (MOTL) Australia is in discussions with a non-Jewish private school in Sydney to run a bespoke trip for its Year 11 students to Germany, Poland and Israel this year; and with a Melbourne private school for its Year 11s to also join MOTL in 2024.

MOTL Australia began operating in 2001, taking Jewish participants to Auschwitz and former sites of Jewish culture in Poland, and remembrance events in Israel.

The organisation is broadening its audience due to the increase in antisemitism and the universal lessons the Holocaust offers in relation to all hatred and bigotry, MOTL Australia Co-President Cedric Geffen told The Jewish Independent.

 “We can’t continue preaching only to the converted,” Geffen said.

“We have to open this to everyone, to grow the knowledge base and empathy, so others understand the psyche about why, say, showing a swastika or flying a Nazi flag is insulting. And that while the Holocaust was the most extensive genocide, it will not be the only, or the last one – antisemitism, like all other forms of discrimination, is a threat to humanity, not only to Jews.”

If the program with the Sydney school proceeds, it would be separate to the standard MOTL trip, Geffen says. It would also take place at a different time from the traditional trip in April or May, most likely in the June/July school holidays, with 10 days in Berlin and Poland, and another 10 days in Israel.

While the messaging would be similar – at its core, the program would be about the history of the Holocaust, examining the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate, and the importance of working towards a more just and equitable world – the content would be customised, incorporating more elements of the faith of those coming on the program.

“We would definitely go to some Christian and Muslim sites in Israel,” Geffen says. The addition of Germany is another difference because, “If you’re teaching the rise of Nazism, you’ve got to go to the source, where it was actually devised.” The only reason the standard MOTL doesn’t include Germany is because there’s not enough time.

If the trip with the Melbourne school goes ahead, it would be based on the program MOTL Australia ran for many years for Year 11 Jewish students.

It’s likely, however, that neither trip would be compulsory but offered by the schools as an optional trip for students.

This new target audience is part of MOTL Australia’s strategy to expand from a predominantly Jewish to a broader, universal story which illustrates the devastating consequences of hate and discrimination and asks what broader lessons can be taken from the Holocaust in relation to racism and xenophobia.

For example, last year MOTL included three high-profile Australians – former Olympic swimmer and LGBTQI+ activist Ian Thorpe; investigative journalist Nick McKenzie; and Dr Kate Hadwen, Principal of Pymble Ladies’ College, one of the largest girls’ school in Australia – in its delegation. Geffen says MOTL Australia was “looking for people of public influence, who could talk about their experiences to a larger audience beyond family, friends and acquaintances.”

This year, MOTL Australia is again planning to include influential non-Jewish personalities on the program. How many will depend on donor funding. There is also a group of four-six state and federal MPs considering the 2024 trip; they were originally slated to participate in 2020 but that trip was cancelled due to Covid.

MOTL began in 1988 as a two-week educational program for teens and takes place each April or May. Participants from all over the world, including adults, spend a week in Poland, including the march itself, a three-kilometre walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day. After visiting sites of Nazi persecution and former sites of Jewish life and culture in Poland, participants travel to Israel for a week to commemorate Remembrance Day and celebrate Israel’s Independence Day.

Australia refused to officially send a delegation to MOTL until 2001, due to strong opposition from much of its Polish survivor community who felt it would be an affront to do so. MOTL Australia initially ran the program for Year 11 students and later expanded it to include adults and young adults. In 2019, due to dwindling numbers on its teen program, MOTL Australia decided to focus on its young adult program. But Covid put MOTL on hold for three years.

When it resumed in 2023, Australia sent 13 young adults, aged between 20 and 35, on the program. They were joined by 37 adults, one of whom was a Holocaust survivor, adding up to a 50-person Australian delegation.

To date, more than 2200 Australians have been on MOTL. But the vast majority – around 1800 – have been Year 11 students, almost exclusively from Jewish day schools. Geffen estimates that only around 5% of the remaining participants have been non-Jewish, even though the program is open to members of all faiths.

In a significant change, about 20% of the 2023 Australian delegation was non-Jewish. The organisation is seeking greater involvement and immersion of non-Jewish people in the program, and aspires to have a 50/50 mix between Jews and non-Jews.

In the meantime, MOTL Australia is continuing its campaign to attract a non-Jewish audience. It had held events in Melbourne and Sydney, last year where Thorpe, McKenzie and Hadwen were to speak about their experience on MOTL 2023. The events were cancelled, however, due to the war in Israel. MOTL is also marketing to non-Jewish audiences via social media and by partnering with organisations with interfaith outreach, such as the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, and the Australian Council of Christians and Jews.

Photo: MOTL website