We will play again. 

When Israel marks Yom Hashoah in two weeks, freed hostage Agam Berger will perform onstage at the March of the Living’s annual ceremony on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the infamous Nazi extermination camp. She will play a 130-year-old violin that survived the Holocaust and was brought to Israel, gifted to her after her release in January during the second ceasefire agreement.  

Daniel Weiss, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri whose parents were murdered in the Oct. 7 terror attacks, will be singing alongside her.

“Standing on the stage at Birkenau is a profound and moving mission for me. Sharing this moment with Agam Berger, as she plays a violin that survived the Holocaust, is a powerful reminder of music’s ability to connect generations, to heal, and to preserve the stories that must never be forgotten,” Weiss said in the statement.

For the second consecutive year, a special delegation of Oct. 7 survivors, including freed hostages, bereaved families and residents of the Gaza border communities, will take part in the global March of the Living, the Menomadin Foundation announced on Friday. The foundation works in collaboration with the World Zionist Organization and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum to strengthen Israel’s social and economic resilience. It will be led by Haim Taib, Menomadin Foundation founder and president, and World Zionist Organization Chairman Yaakov Hagoel.

They will be marching with the message: “Never Again is Now.”

This year’s march will be led by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog, together with Polish President Andrzej Duda, and will also include 80 Holocaust survivors from Israel and around the world. 

“The horrific events of Oct. 7 and the rise of antisemitism worldwide remind us how important it is to preserve our Jewish and Israeli identity, remember history, and work for a better world free of hatred and antisemitism. We will continue to educate about the Holocaust and to combat antisemitism on all fronts,” Shmuel Rosenman, chairman of the International March of the Living, said in a statement on Friday.

“As we mark 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, we face the memory of the Holocaust not only as a historical legacy but as a moral call to action in the present and a foundation for shaping the future. The delegation of returnees, IDF wounded and heads of authorities joining the March of the Living on behalf of the World Zionist Organization reflects the strength of the Zionist spirit — the one that rose from the ashes and builds life, society and state. The presence of the president of the State of Israel and the president of Poland at this event underscores the shared responsibility to preserve memory, fight antisemitism and educate future generations on the lessons of the past,” said Hagoel in the statement. “This is not just a commitment to the memory of the victims — it is a commitment to life.”

The Oct. 7 delegation will include more than a dozen freed hostages, many joined by family members; family members of hostages still in captivity, either being held alive or whose bodies are being kept by Hamas; and the family members of individuals murdered on Oct. 7 or during their captivity in Gaza.

“I’ve lived a very difficult life and survived such hard times. I hear what those who returned are saying about the hostages, and it’s like a second Holocaust,” delegation participant Michael Kuperstein, grandfather of Gaza hostage Bar Kuperstein, said in a statement. “Bar is only 23, just at the beginning of his life, with so much ahead of him. I’m 84, fighting today so that all my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have better lives. I want all the hostages to return home so we can get our lives back.”