Press On | Walk in Remembrance
Press On | Walk of Remembrance will commemorate the World War II death march that German Jewish teenager Eddie Willner, along with 4,000 other concentration camp prisoners in his group, were forced to endure.
75 years ago, in January 1945, as the Soviet Army pushed into Poland, the Nazis evacuated an estimated 56,000 prisoners from Auschwitz and its sub camps towards Germany.
In a chaotic and brutal effort to bring what remained of the starving and weakened concentration camp inmates towards Germany to continue work as slave laborers, thousands died along the route. Prisoners, fleeing refugees, and the retreating German Army clogged the roads during the mass exodus from Poland and Czechoslovakia along dozens of evacuation routes.
In one of the greatest forced marches in history, and during one of the coldest winters in Poland on record, many prisoners died along the roads and in neighboring towns: shot or beaten to death by their guards, frozen to death in the subzero temperatures, or total collapse due to exhaustion, starvation, and disease. The 170 mile route from Blechhammer to Gross-Rosen witnessed a terrible toll in the final stages of Nazi genocide.
Eddie Willner and 4,000 other prisoners from Blechhammer and others who had come from Auschwitz and other camps, started their forced march on January 21, 1945. For 13 days they marched along the back roads and through the small towns of Upper Silesia, through snow and ice, facing terrible winds, with most wearing only their blue striped uniforms and wooden clogs. After being provided an initial small ration at Blechhammer, they were given almost no food or water along the way, except in a few places where farmers and others gave them some of their own meager food supplies.
The forced march, which witnessed great brutality and terrible tragedy, is also one that saw tremendous resilience and the will of many to survive against overwhelming odds. Somehow, despite the killings, the bitter cold, the lack of food and water, and near total exhaustion, some prisoners managed to survive. It is in part to understand both the sacrifice of those lost and the perseverance and indomitable will of those who made it that a remembrance walk was conceived and will be made on the 75th anniversary of those terrible days.
Starting January 21, 2020, Eddie Willner’s son, Albert, along with close U.S. and Polish friends, will walk and camp along the route his father walked in order to remember and study the sacrifice of those that went the same way 75 years before.
We will follow their progress and explore topics and themes such as the history and significance of the death march, hunger, cold weather conditions, and seek to better understand the challenges of perseverance, endurance and survival. We hope to talk with Polish people along the way, listening to their stories, and understand better the role of such organizations as the US 15th Air Force and other allies in that area in bringing about the end of World War II.
The Press On / Walk of Remembrance and this vlog are designed to help remember, document, better understand and hopefully, inspire others to walk the ground in search of their own family histories.
Note of gratitude |
We also wish to thank the countless archivists, historians, and staff members, who helped us prepare over many years for this Walk of Remembrance journey to include (but not limited to): The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.; the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation, Los Angeles, California; Mémorial de la Shoah, Service Archives, Paris, France; Mémorial, Musée et Centre de Documentation sur l’Holocauste et les Droits de l’Homme, Mechelen, Belgium; Arolsen Archives, International Center on Nazi Persecution, Bad Arolson, Germany; Yad Vashem, The International Institute for Holocaust Research, Jerusalem, Israel; The Blechhammer - 1944 Association, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Poland; Gross Rosen Memorial, Wałbrzych, Poland; Museum, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Oświęcim, Poland. And to family and friends too numerous to mention – thank you for your research assistance, love, and support.