Auschwitz’s first Kosher food stand to open just in time for 'March of the Living'

The Auschwitz Jewish Center is set to ease a longstanding challenge for kosher-observant Jewish visitors by opening its first kosher concession stand on April 23, just in time for this year’s March of the Living. Situated a mile from the Auschwitz concentration camp, where over a million Jews perished, the Center—housed in the only synagogue to survive Nazi occupation—welcomes around 800,000 visitors annually.

Until now, those adhering to kosher dietary laws had to pack their own meals or pre-arrange catering, but the new stand will offer packaged, shelf-stable kosher options. This marks a significant step for Oświęcim, a Polish town once brimming with Jewish life, where over half the population was Jewish before the war, supported by more than 30 synagogues and a network of kosher eateries and shops—all erased by the Holocaust.

Simon Bergson, chairman of the Auschwitz Jewish Centre Foundation, told Jewish News, “Opening the city’s first post-war kosher concession was a natural step, ensuring that kosher-observant visitors could pray or reflect in our synagogue while also enjoying a kosher meal.” The timing aligns with the annual March of the Living on April 24, Yom Hashoah, when thousands will trace the grim route from Auschwitz to Birkenau.

Among them will be 40 Holocaust survivors from Israel and 40 more from across the globe, joined by their descendants, in a powerful testament to resilience. Aliza Vitis-Shomron, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, reflected, “Marching in the March of the Living is a way to close the circle and fulfill the testament of my comrades in the Jewish Combat Organization—to tell their story of their heroism.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Polish President Andrzej Duda will lead the procession, a nod to their nations’ shared history. Herzog’s family ties to the Holocaust run deep: his father, former President Chaim Herzog, helped liberate Bergen-Belsen, while his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog, worked tirelessly to save Jewish survivors post-war.

For Vitis-Shomron, the march embodies survival: “We have proven to the world, and to the Germans, that we survived the inferno, the valley of death, and that we built families who will march with us, bringing pride to the State of Israel.”

JBN contributed to this article.