27 January 2017, 10:51 GMT
WARSAW (Sputnik) — The march this year marks the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The participants started their march from the main entrance to the camp Auswitz-I, the gate bearing a sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work sets you free), to the site where a second camp, Aushwitz II-Birkenau, was located. The main ceremony will take place at the second camp.
The march is being led by a few dozen survivors from different camps, of which includes Israeli Chief Rabbi Meir Lau. The participants, most of whom hail from Israel, carry flags of their countries.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest extermination camp during the Second World War and has become one of the main symbols of the Holocaust. According to some estimates, 1.4 million of people, 1.1 million of whom were Jewish, were killed in the camp between 1941 and 1945. The camp was freed on January 27, 1945 by the USSR's Red Army.
In 1947, the site of the camp was transformed into a museum.
The March of the Living is an educational project, established by an eponymous organization. The first march took place in 1988.
