6 Bay area teens to go on 2010 March of the Living

Six students and two adults from the Tampa Bay area will partcipate in the international March of the Living in April.

The March of the Living is an educational program that brings Jewish teens from all over the world to Poland on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, to retrace the steps Jews were forced to take on the death march from Birkenau, concentration camp complex to the Auschwitz death camp. The two-week trip culminates in Israel where teens join in the obersvance of Yom HaZikaron, Israel Memorial Day, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day.

Tampa Bay youth participating will be 11th grader Rebecca Krop and 12th graders Jordyn Schwersky and Simone Wilk, all of Clearwater; 11th grader Aaron Levine of Dunedin and 11th grader Zachary Shindelman and Rachel Davidson, both of Tampa.

Dr. Daniel Krop, radiologist from Clearwater (Rebecca’s father), and Jack Meyer, a Holocaust survivor from Seminole, will be accompanying the teens. Meyer has gone on the trip before to help educate the youth about the history of that period and the continuing dangers posed by hatred and intolerance.

The Florida Holocaust Museum coordinates the program locally, but this year had to ask for assistance, due to staff cutbacks, in administering the selection process for Pinellas, Hillsborough and Sarasota counties.

The Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties, despite its own cutbacks, volunteered to administer the selection process for Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties to ensure Tampa Bay area teens would have the opportunity to participate in the trip this year, Federation Executive Director Bonnie Friedman said.

Robin Warren, March of the Living coordinator at the Holocaust Museum, said participants’ financial assistance needs were met through the use of funds available at the students’ synagogues and funds earmarked for the March of the Living at the museum.