MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The march started at main entrance of the Auschwitz I with the famous "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work sets you free") sign and ended at Auschwitz II – Birkenau camp. The route length was three kilometers (1.8 miles).
"The March of the Living symbolizes revival of the Jewish people, the Jewish state and the Jewish obligation to defend themselves from those who are annihilating them [Jews]," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address to participants of the march.
The march began with a sound of the shofar – a traditional Jewish ram’s horn used during holidays. Participants of the rally carried various flags – primarily Israeli and Polish ones.
The March of the Living is an annual educational program established in 1988 to commemorate people killed by Nazis. At different times Polish and Israeli Presidents and Prime Ministers, Nobel Prize winners and priests of different religions took part in it.
Auschwitz was the biggest Nazi death camp operating in 1940 – 1945. About 1.4 million people including about 1.1 Jews had been killed in the camp before the Soviet army liberated it on January 27, 1945. Now Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of the main symbols of the Holocaust and is designated UNESCO World Heritage site.