Interfaith Mission to Auschwitz

On January 23, 2020, just ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation, a delegation of Muslim and Jewish leaders walked together through Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was the most senior Islamic leadership delegation ever to visit Auschwitz or any Nazi German death camp.

H.E. Dr. Mohammad Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League, led 62 Muslims, including 25 prominent religious leaders, from some 28 countries. They were joined by a 24 member American Jewish Committee delegation led by CEO David Harris, President Harriet Schleifer and Rabbi David Rosen, several of them the children of Holocaust survivors. H.E. Bawa Jain accompanied the delegation.

How It Began

On April 30, 2019, at AJC headquarters in New York, Dr. Al-Issa and David Harris signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Muslim World League and the American Jewish Committee. Its preamble called on responsible leaders of religious communities to unite "in a time of increased hateful rhetoric and violent attacks." H.E. Bawa Jain witnessed the agreement and served as its guarantor, entrusted with ensuring that both sides kept their word. The first commitment in the memorandum was a joint visit to Auschwitz.

Bearing Witness

Each member of the two delegations carried a memorial candle and placed it at the monument honoring the more than 1.1 million people murdered at the camp. Near the gas chambers and crematoria at Birkenau, the Muslim delegation held a prayer and memorial service for the dead.

"To be here, among the children of Holocaust survivors and members of the Jewish and Islamic communities, is both a sacred duty and a profound honor. The unconscionable crimes to which we bear witness today are truly crimes against humanity. That is to say, a violation of us all, an affront to all of God's children."

"This creates the chance not only to deepen understanding of the unparalleled crime that took place here, but also to build bridges of friendship and cooperation between Muslims and Jews in pursuit of a more humane and safer world for all."

Warsaw

The next day the delegations traveled together to Warsaw. They visited the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Tatarska Street Mosque, and the Nożyk Synagogue, where Dr. Al-Issa addressed a large gathering in the sanctuary. The mission closed with an interfaith Shabbat dinner at the Royal Castle, attended by the Catholic Primate of Poland, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, the Polish Foreign Minister, the Speaker of the Senate and several ambassadors.

Why It Mattered

A public stand against denial and hatred

Coverage ran from The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC and CNN to Al Arabiya and Arab News, carrying the image of Muslim leaders praying for Jewish victims to audiences across the Muslim world and beyond.

A model for religion one on one

Like the Hindu-Jewish Leadership Summits, the mission showed what becomes possible when two traditions meet directly, at the highest level, with honesty about the past. That same spirit carried forward into the One World One Humanity summit, where Dr. Al-Issa again stood alongside leaders of many faiths.