Some 10,000 participants from 40 different countries took part in the annual March of the Living on Thursday, commemorating the Nazi massacres at the most notorious death camp of the Holocaust.

Survivor and ex-Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau addressed the participants in a ceremony at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Camp:

“We lost our parents, we lost our homes, we lost our families – don’t escape from Father in heaven. Don’t disconnect yourself from our beautiful heritage,” said the rabbi.

“We punish ourselves if we escape from our traditions. Why do we deserve another punishment after what we went through? Let’s keep the last words of the victims here: Remember you are Jewish.”

Initiated in 1988, the March of the Living is held annually on Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.