Thanks to those who were able to attend our recent MOTL 2025 information session. If you missed it, you can watch it here. Registrations officially open in late September. 

We are looking forward to our upcoming March of the Living Celebration events taking place in Sydney on Sunday 27th October and in Melbourne on Monday 4th November. You are all invited. More details below. 

Thank you for supporting MOTL Australia. Our mission of educating about the holocaust, and combatting antisemitism and discrimination remain as vital as ever. 

It has been a very challenging 12 months, and we are really hoping and praying for the return of the hostages, and the end of this war. 

Wishing you all a Shana Tovah Umetukah. A happy, healthy, and peaceful year ahead. 

The MOTL Team

We are so proud of what we have achieved over the last 23 years. So many people have been part of this organisation and have been deeply impacted by their experience on MOTL. 

We will be coming together as a community to reflect on where we have been, and to share where we are heading. The events will be a special opportunity to welcome new staff and board members, and to also honour Cedric Geffen who has served MOTL for almost 20 years (including leading 9 trips). Cedric will be retiring from the board at the AGM in November. 

This will be a free event, and registrations will open next week. Please pencil in the date to your calendar. 

Mazal Tov to Abe Goldberg on his 100th birthday celebrations which will be taking place in 2 weeks 🥳 Abe is a holocaust survivor who has been on MOTL three times. 

After the war Abe moved to Belgium where he met and fell in love with the love of his life Cesia, also a Holocaust survivor. Deciding to leave the horrible memories behind, Abram and Cesia chose to settle in Melbourne in 1951. They had two children, Charlie and Helen. This year marks the 75th wedding anniversary of this incredible couple.

"I was the youngest of four siblings, born into a politically and socially active family in Lodz, Poland. The Nazis murdered my family, and only me and my older sister survived. On 29 August 1944 I arrived with my mother at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I remember the last words my mother told me before we were separated, she said, "Do everything humanly possible to survive. When you do, wherever you will find yourself, tell the world what happened to your family and other Jews."  She believed I would survive.

I have devoted my life to this work. When I stood in front of the Angel of Death, Dr Mengele, 90% of the men were sent to their deaths. His finger didn't point at me, which is why I consider my survival 99% luck, because all Jews of Occupied Europe had a death sentence." - Abe Goldberg

Abe has written his story "The Strength of Hope" - which you can purchase here. 

Pictured below: Abe with his son and grandson on MOTL 2011. 

And MOTL CEO - Gary Samowitz - with Abe at his house last week. 

Adam and Samara are both alumni of March of the Living. Adam attended the first Young Adult program in 2014 and made many life long friends from around the world. 9 of whom attended the wedding this week in Toronto. 

Adam has been on MOTL several times and created some remarkable films of the trip. 

A 30 minute documentary called Never Forget: A March of the Living Story which you can watch here.

He also directed our excellent 4 minute promo video which you can watch here. 

Wishing Adam and Samara much happiness, health and good times ahead. 

Join us from 5.30pm, on Monday, 7th October, at a venue less than 15 minutes from Caulfield, there will be a series of deeply moving artistic installations, light projections and songs honouring those we have lost and reflecting the emotions we have all experienced since that terrible day.

To mark the anniversary of the 7 October massacre our organisation will be marching in honour of twenty victims. We will create lanterns and will participate in the Walk of Lantern procession.

At 7pm, the formal commemoration will begin with the Walk of Light lantern procession, with each of the 1,600 plus lanterns made and carried by members of the community dedicated to one of the victims of the past 12 months.

The commemoration will include performances by school and shule choirs, notable names from the music industry, and personal reflections from members of our community. 

The ceremony will conclude by 8.30pm, after which you're welcome to experience the installations once again, or if you haven't yet done so.

Whether you can make it for the entire evening or just the commemoration, we very much hope you will all join us for this landmark expression of solidarity with both Israel and each other.

If you can't make it to the event, we invite you to make a lantern in honour of a victim and place it on your doorstep or in your window on the evening of 7th October.

Click here for event details.

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