“I come carrying the nation of Morocco with me,” peace activist Amine Drissi Boutaybi told JNS at Auschwitz this week.
Drissi Boutaybi founded the Pink Tarbouche Association, dedicated to preserving Judeo-Moroccan memory. He said Judeo-Moroccan culture is enshrined in the Moroccan constitution and is one of the pillars of Moroccan identity.
“We must not forget the righteous either. King Mohammed V protected his Jews—it must be said and repeated. That’s why I came wearing a djellaba [robe] and tarboosh [fez], to carry this message. It’s extremely important. He managed to save around 240,000 Moroccans at the peak in the 1940s. It’s a fundamental message to send to the world,” Drissi Boutaybi said on Tuesday.
Morocco’s contribution to the Allied forces, alongside France, is also part of the country’s World War II history. In Morocco, he said, knowledge of the Holocaust remains limited.
“In general, people know there was a major massacre. The average Moroccan knows, but we need to talk about the Holocaust and the contribution of Mohammed V. I do so through my platform, which promotes Moroccan Hebrew culture as well as the Abraham Accords between Morocco and Israel—an agreement that is fundamental to Morocco’s economic interests and carries these values. Let’s not forget there are one million Moroccans in Israel,” he said.
More Jews are returning to Morocco as a result of the Abraham Accords, Drissi Boutaybi added.
“King Mohammed VI is doing a lot for the community—building roads to allow Jews to visit and celebrate pilgrimages at sites such as those of Rabbi Haim Pinto and Rabbi Yitzhak Abouhatsera. There is a whole logistical effort. Morocco wants to welcome its Jews; it wants to reconnect with them. The Jewish presence in Morocco dates back 2,400 years,” he said.
“A Morocco without Jews is a Morocco that has lost part of its identity—it is diminished. A Morocco without Jews is a Morocco missing something,” he added.
‘She was hidden in a wardrobe for the remainder of the war’
At the march, JNS met Harry Rapaport, whose parents were Holocaust survivors and whose father escaped the Treblinka death camp, also in German-occupied Poland. This is the sixth time Rapaport has visited Auschwitz, but his first time participating in the March of the Living.
“My father was in a death march at the beginning of 1945. I carry his legacy, and I wanted to be on the March of the Living, in the same place where he was on a death march,” Rapaport told JNS, tearing up with emotion.
“I am glad to be with young people, passing on the torch of tolerance and love and, hopefully, fighting hate and antisemitism,” he said.
The situation in New York, where Rapaport lives, is no different from the rest of the world since Oct. 7, 2023. “Antisemitism is rising and multiplying. It is one of the reasons I am here—I hope to promote tolerance,” he said.
Holocaust survivor Irene Shashar escaped the Warsaw Ghetto as a child in 1942 with her mother through sewer tunnels after her father was shot. She was then hidden in a wardrobe by her mother for the remainder of the war.
Shashar was born on Dec. 12, 1937. Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, and her childhood began to disappear shortly afterward, she said. Of that time, she remembers her grandmother’s warmth.
Shashar has participated in the March of the Living for the past four years. In 2020, she was invited to speak at the United Nations in New York, where she called for “Never Again” to be more than a slogan. She delivered the same message at the European Parliament in Brussels on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2024.
“I am very active in speaking and calling on the world to fight antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and to affirm that Israel is our homeland. The only thing we really want is peace and to live in peace with our neighbors. It has not been going very well since Oct. 7—it is not succeeding—but maybe now we are on the right path,” she said.
During the march among the many flags and signs held by delegations from Canada, the United States, Italy, Latvia and Israel, JNS met Harry Sealfon in the Nevada delegation.
“I feel honored to be able to take this walk to commemorate what our people went through. We are symbolizing that we were able to make this march while they couldn’t, it’s very important and meaningful that we do this in their memory,” he told JNS.
“I always like to have the chance to meet survivors and hear their story. A lot of survivors are 100 years old, and it is amazing that they live that long. I admire that they did survive and had a life, children and grandchildren,” Sealfon said.
Elliot Malin explained how the delegation came together, saying the Anti-Defamation League for the Desert Region, the Nevada Governor’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust, and local synagogues joined forces to organize the trip.
“The March of the Living takes place every year. Our delegation will hopefully come every other year or every year moving forward. We will be bringing more people to educate,” he said.
Malin noted that while his delegation included adults, another group composed of teenagers was also participating in the march.
No longer comfortable in Canada
Yifat Korman, one of many Canadians from Toronto who came to Auschwitz for the march, said that before Oct. 7, as an Israeli-Canadian, she felt less connected to her Jewish identity and had not experienced antisemitism. That changed on Oct. 8.
“I became more connected with being Jewish and realized that whether I see myself as a Zionist or not, the world views me that way. I saw a Holocaust survivor speak to a Nova [music festival] survivor, and I was amazed by the wisdom that the Holocaust survivor could impart. I realized I don’t have many opportunities to spend time with Holocaust survivors, and I need to come,” Korman told JNS.
Korman moved from Israel to Toronto at age 20, 37 years ago. She said life has changed since Oct. 7, and that Jews no longer feel comfortable in Canada as antisemitism and anti-Zionism are no longer socially discouraged.
“Whenever Jews talk about their experiences, they are silenced. They either receive comments about Palestinians or there is an assumption that we brought it upon ourselves and deserve it because we are genociders or killers. It has become acceptable and is no longer reprimanded,” she said.
“I ask myself every day whether I should walk out with the Jewish star, but if I do, I must face whatever comments people want to make, and I don’t always have the energy for it.
“I work in mental health, and in the health field, it is very bad. The Ontario Psychological Association would not condemn Oct. 7. We fought for a year for them to even make a comment. It has been very hard to be in Canada. Most of my friends are questioning whether they should stay,” she continued.
“I would like the government of Canada to no longer allow hatred on the street, so that people know they cannot abuse Jewish people and think they can get away with it. It would not be tolerated for any other minority group,” Korman said.
