Members of the first-ever official US government delegation to the March of the Living hold the American flag up at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in Poland on May 2, 2019. Photo: March of the Living.

JNS.org – Several senior US officials took part in the March of the Living for the first time to commemorate the deaths of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust on Yom Hashoah.

The US officials in the delegation included US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher, Ambassador to the Holy See Calista Gingrich and Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr.

The delegation joined thousand of others who did the nearly two-mile march from the former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz to Birkenau on Yom Hashoah as a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust and a call for an end to antisemitism.

Carr told reporters that “I couldn’t be more proud of the unprecedented commitment of this [Trump] administration to fight against antisemitism.”

“There is no administration, no president, no secretary of state that have ever committed themselves to this extent to fight against antisemitism, to protect the Jewish people and to support the State of Israel,” he added.

Friedman said: “We must always remember the Holocaust, we can never forgive those who murdered 6 million Jews. It is the most important lesson for mankind is to always remember the Holocaust.”

Friedman, who took part in the delegation following the deadly Chabad of Poway shooting in Southern California on Saturday, said that antisemitism cannot be “eradicated or cured with slogans or easy steps.”

“Antisemitism is a disease that has plagued mankind since there has been a mankind. We condemn all acts of antisemitism, just as we condemn all acts against any religion, race or ethnicity. This is much bigger than any single event, this is about human beings and the tolerance we need to bring to our lives.”