March of the Living

The March of the Living (Hebrew: מצעד החיים) is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust. On Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom HaShoah), thousands of participants march silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex built during World War II.

The program was established in 1988 and takes place annually for two weeks around April and May, immediately following Passover. Marchers come from countries as diverse as Estonia, New Zealand, Panama, and Turkey.

Commemoration of World War II death marches

The climax of the program is the March, which is designed to contrast with the death marches which occurred towards the end of World War II. When Nazi Germany withdrew its soldiers from forced-labour camps, inmates – usually already starving and stricken by oppressive work – were forced to march hundreds of miles further west, while those who lagged behind or fell were shot. The March of the Living, in contrast to the death marches, serves to illustrate the continued existence of world Jewry despite Nazi Germany's attempts at their obliteration.

The Living

The Living is a 2014 film, written and directed by Jack Bryan, starring Fran Kranz, Jocelin Donahue, and Kenny Wormald.

Awards

The film won the Best Narrative Feature award at the 2014 Manhattan Film Festival.

External links

The Living (novel)

The Living is American author Annie Dillard's first novel, a historical fiction account of European settlers and a group of Lummi natives in late 19th century Washington published in 1992. The main action of the book takes place in the Puget Sound settlements of Whatcom, Old Bellingham, Sehome, and Fairhaven, which would later merge to form the city of Bellingham, Washington.

As research for the novel, Dillard lived for five years in the Bellingham area, much of that time in 19th century era accommodations.

Footnotes

The Living (film)

The Living is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Jack Bryan. It stars Fran Kranz, Jocelin Donahue, Kenny Wormald, Chris Mulkey, and Joelle Carter. Teddy (Kranz) learns he has beaten his wife, Molly (Donahue), in a drunken rage. Her brother, Gordon (Wormald), hires an ex-con (Mulkey) to kill Teddy. The film premiered at the 2014 Manhattan Film Festival.

Plot

Teddy wakes up from a night of binge drinking. His wedding band is missing, and his fist is bloodied. When he cannot find his wife, Molly, he visits his mother-in-law's house. There, Molly's mother, Angela, and her brother, Gordon, explain that she wants nothing to do with him, as he beat her severely while drunk. Teddy protests that he does not remember the incident and calls out an apology to Molly. Angela and Gordon warn him off; to their consternation, Molly leaves with Teddy, though she warns him that it is not a reconciliation. She is only returning to the house, not to their relationship. At the same time, Angela berates Gordon for not sticking up more for his sister.