130 global police leaders join March of the Living in Poland

AUSCHWITZ: About 130 police leaders from around the world gathered in Krakow, Poland, this week for a first-of-its-kind initiative amid rampant anti-Semitism.

The event aligns with the March of the Living, which annually brings thousands of participants to Germany and Poland to gain a first-hand look at the Nazi death camps and learn the lessons of the Holocaust through engagement with survivors.

Paul Goldenberg, a 37-year law enforcement veteran and deputy director of the Rutgers Miller Center on Policing and Community Resilience, which organized the initiative with the University of Virginia’s Center for Public Safety and Justice, spoke about the importance of the trip.

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“This initiative is about learning, professional development and remembrance. It is also about reminding ourselves who we are, why we are in these positions and what we need to do to ensure people are safe – no matter who they are or where they are,” he said.

The three-day program included a walking tour of Kazimierz, Krakow’s Jewish quarter, and a tour of Auschwitz on Monday; a press conference and testimonies from a Holocaust survivor and survivors of anti-Semitic shootings, culminating in Tuesday’s participation in the March of the Living and a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Goldenberg said the Holocaust was unique in that it was a state-led campaign in which police forces played a role, and that a central lesson is how the Nazis’ dehumanization of Jews and other targeted groups allowed the system to function. He added that the goal of the initiative is for participants to return to their departments with a deeper understanding that will help them better train officers, support victims of hate crimes and appreciate the importance and critical nature of their responsibilities.

He pointed out the urgency of the situation, noting that armed military units now guard synagogues in Western countries and that both the United States and Canada have deployed specialized police forces to protect Jewish institutions.

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People take part in a floral tribute outside Bondi Pavilion on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Thursday, December 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Markham)

“From a police perspective, the erosion of safety and security for vulnerable communities is deeply concerning. It is a very alarming scenario – one that in some ways reflects patterns we saw in the 1930s,” he added.

The theme of this year’s March is to combat anti-Semitism, which has risen to unprecedented levels since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre in Israel.

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Abbie Talmoud, director of Jewish Community Affairs at the Embassy of Israel in the United States, survived a terrorist attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, in May 2025, in which two Israeli embassy employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were killed.

Members of a global law enforcement delegation attended the March of the Living in Auschwitz on April 13, 2026. (JV Katz)

“There needs to be a realization that the way we don’t allow racism for other races and ethnicities, we can’t allow anti-Semitism either. It has to come from the top – the school system, the parents, the governments,” Talmoud said.

Catherine Szkop, director of public affairs at the Embassy of Israel in the United States, which focuses on interfaith relations and engagement, carpooled with Talmoud, Lischinsky and Milgrim to the event that evening and also survived.

Szkop said she has never been more vigilant or fearful of possible attacks.

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“I wear headphones less; it makes me more aware of my surroundings. It’s a mix of fear and wanting peace of mind after what happened. I don’t let it stop me from living, but it has made me a little more scared,” she said.

“We are law enforcement officers, but we are also part of the communities we serve, and we must recognize that role as the first line of defense,” she said.

A photo taken on May 27, 1944 in Oswiecim, showing Nazis selecting prisoners on the platform at the entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. (Photo by -/Yad Vashem Archives/AFP via Getty Images)

Hengemuhle said it is a responsibility as human beings to do everything possible to combat hate, which requires understanding and educating each other, and utilizing different police and professional backgrounds.

“This is my first year and I am very humbled to have been invited to join the march and learn more. For me, it is about coming together and learning from what has happened in the past so that we do not allow this to happen again in the future,” she said.

“The Holocaust did not happen overnight,” she continued. “There were small, incremental changes that ultimately led to what happened. I think it’s important that by coming together and having these discussions, we ask ourselves whether we’re seeing the kind of early indicators that could lead us down a dangerous path — and how we can intervene before it goes too far.”

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To this end, senior police officials and associations from Europe and North America signed a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Berlin earlier this month, formally launching a new transnational initiative entitled ‘Not on Our Watch – The Democratic Policing Initiative’.

The agreement brings together the German Police Union (GdP), the European Federation of Police Unions (EU.Pol), the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association (SRLEEA) and the International Police Delegation, in collaboration with leading academic institutions.

The MOU formalizes a shared commitment among participating organizations to strengthen early threat detection and intelligence sharing across borders, including establishing coordinated operational responses to emerging extremist threats.

The security jacket of an anti-Israel protester during a march against the Jewish state at the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia. August 2025. (Ayush Kumar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“We all have a duty to dig deep and ensure that hatred does not arise on our watch, and to recognize that we have a fundamental responsibility to think critically about how to keep our communities safe,” he said.

Skinner noted that North Texas is home to a large and vibrant Jewish community, which he said he is fortunate to serve. He added that shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, he traveled to Israel with two other sheriffs and visited Kibbutz Be’eri, an experience he said he will never forget.

A participant draped in an Israeli flag stands at the main entrance with the inscription “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Sets You Free) at the start of The Living’s annual March to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust during World War II, at the memorial site of the former Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, on April 14, 2026. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images)

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“I came away with important, practical lessons for my organization, but also with a deeper understanding of a world full of hate. It reinforced for me that the authority entrusted to me by the people who elected me must be used wisely in the way I approach my work every day – to ensure that something like this does not happen to the citizens where I live, and that if it ever did, we would have an appropriate and effective response,” he said.

“I think of the march,” he continued, “which honors the victims of the Holocaust and reminds us of the consequences of hate and the importance of standing up against violence and bigotry. That is the message I want everyone I influence to understand.”