For the Living

In January 1945, after 2 years as prisoner in a death camp, 10-year old Holocaust survivor Marcel Zielinksi embarked on a treacherous 60-mile journey by foot from Auschwitz-Birkenau through an active war zone to Krakow, Poland. A child's desperate search for any surviving family members. A journey from Darkness to Light. In 2019, 250 cyclists from 12 different countries (including other Holocaust survivors) traveled to Auschwitz-Birkenau and re-traced 84-year old Marcel's liberation path as a collective act of empathy called "Ride for the Living." Marcel's dehumanizing Holocaust experience and the empathy demonstrated during "Ride for the Living" compel us to reflect on Humankind's equally treacherous journey between the two extremes of our nature: Dehumanization to Empathy. Darkness to Light. Igniting the conversation: In 2023, can the Light prevail?