Organizers of the March of the Living, held annually on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, said about 10,000 participated in the event in southern Poland, occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Among them were about 150 Holocaust survivors, Israel’s justice minister, Knesset members and people from 42 countries who voiced a wide range of emotions: deep grief at the loss of 6 million Jews, joy at the continued existence of the Jewish people and hope that the many young people taking part means the world will continue to remember.

“My grandparents of blessed memory died in the Holocaust along with five of their seven children and I am here to say memorial prayers for them, out of respect and out of hope they are resting in peace,” said Michael Berks, 77, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The marchers gathered under the infamous gate at Auschwitz bearing the sadist Nazi motto “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Will Set You Free). The chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Yisrael Meir Lau, an Auschwitz survivor from Poland, marched at the head of the group holding Torah scrolls.

The long line of people then proceeded, some in silence, some singing Hebrew songs, about three kilometers (two miles) to Birkenau, where most of the 1.1 million victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex were killed in gas chambers.

As they arrived at the gates of Birkenau, some bowed their heads or knelt down to pray at the railway tracks that brought victims to the extermination camp from across Europe. Some wept as they prayed alone, others as they gathered in small groups, hugging friends.

As a group from the United States approached the tracks, two survivors who had not met before, realizing they were both survivors, began chatting, exchanging information about their wartimes experiences.

The sight of the two elderly survivors caught the attention of those nearby, causing an interested group to surround the two, who at times struggled to hear and understand each other well. One of them, Salomon Birenbaum, wore a cap with stripes that recalled the prisoner garb at the camp. People wept as they watched, with some uttering “God bless you.”

A girl looks at a plaque she just placed on the rail tracks in the former German Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau during the yearly March of the Living, in Brzezinka, Poland, Thursday, May 5, 2016. Thousands of people from around the world have paid homage to the victims of the Holocaust with a somber march from the barracks of Auschwitz to nearby Birkenau. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Then, the other survivor Anneliese Nossbaum, who was in a wheelchair, caught sight of the railroad tracks — her first sight of them since she was an inmate there.

“Why didn’t they bomb those tracks? Why didn’t the outside world help? The world failed us,” she said.

“That’s why there is Israel now,” interjected a woman from the United States.

Several people lit little candles and placed them on the tracks but the flames were extinguished quickly by the wind and a sudden rain that fell as people made their ways to the crematoria, now sunken ruins in the earth.

People also left personal messages along the tracks. “Today I march for those who cannot. NEVER FORGET THE 6 MIL,” read one.

Several of the thousands of people shared their reasons for taking part.

“I am here in memory of all the brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith who perished because they were Jewish. I want to make sure that I, and with all these kids who are here, pay homage to them.”

—Sam Peltz, 83, a Holocaust survivor from Poland who now divides his time between Long Island, New York and Delray Beach, Florida.

Sam Peltz, 83, a Holocaust survivor from Poland, now living in the U.S., stops for a photo prior to the yearly March of the Living, in the former German Nazi Death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland, Thursday, May 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

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“It’s a really important day, Holocaust memorial day, and the March of the Living symbolizes the victory of the Jewish people over the terrible Nazi Shoah. Nearly all of the relatives of my grandparents have died in the Holocaust, and being here is very meaningful to me, like closing a circle. I haven’t started to cry yet but I am sure I will. And it’s a great honor and source of pride to be here as a member of the Knesset.”

—Yael Cohen Paran, 42, a member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

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“I came here to give witness to the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust due to the inhumanity of the Germans. I want to be a living witness and tell my sons and my grandchildren, and I hope they will do this as well. We are Jewish, and on my father’s mother’s side 80 percent of the family was wiped out. I have a lot of mixed emotions here because of all the death and inhumanity. My children must be witnesses so that this will never happen again.”

—Daniel Moreinis, 49, an economist from

Daniel Moreinis, 49, an economist from Panama City, Panama, stops for a photo prior to the yearly March of the Living, in the former German Nazi Death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland, Thursday, May 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

ma City, Panama.

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“We are here to learn more about history, to see with our own eyes what the camp looked like and how hard the conditions were of the people who were here. We learn a bit about the Holocaust at school, but I feel we could be learning more.”

—Anita Boniecka, 17, from Bydgoszcz, Poland. She was with other members of a scouting group that took the name of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who rescued some 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto.

People wave Israeli flags in front of a gate with the words "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free) in the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz as thousands of people, mostly youth from all over the world gathered for the annual "March of the Living" to commemorate the Holocaust in Oswiecim, Poland May 5, 2016.

People walk in front of a gate with the words "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free), in the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz as thousands of people, mostly youth from all over the world gathered for the annual "March of the Living" to commemorate the Holocaust in Oswiecim, Poland May 5, 2016.

People wave Israeli flags in front of a gate with the words "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free) in the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz as thousands of people, mostly youth from all over the world gathered for the annual "March of the Living" to commemorate the Holocaust in Oswiecim, Poland May 5, 2016.

People walk in front of a gate with the words "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free) in the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz as thousands of people, mostly youth from all over the world gathered for the annual "March of the Living" to commemorate the Holocaust in Oswiecim, Poland May 5, 2016.

Participants draped in the Israeli national flags walk on the railway tracks, during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

A man sits to read tribute cards placed on the railway track, during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

Participants during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

Participants during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel, and Chairman of Yad Vashem Yisrael Meir Lau (C), Israeli Justice minister Ayelet Shaked (3-L) and Israeli Ambassador to Poland Anna Azari (2-L) take part in the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

A man pauses to read tribute cards placed on the railway track, during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

Participants during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

A participants draped in the Israeli national flag walks on the railway tracks, during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

A participants walks with the Polish national, during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

A photograph of the camp victims is seen on tracks at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau, during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)

Participants during the ‘March of the Living’ from the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in Brzezinka, Poland, 05 May 2016. A few thousand people, mostly Jewish and Polish youth, take part in the 25th ‘March of the Living’ on the site of the former Nazi-German death camp Auschwitz to honour Holocaust victims. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, lost their lives in Auschwitz death camps during the World War II. (Credit: EPA)