130 world police leaders join March of the Living in Poland

AUSCHWITZ: Some 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 is aligned with the March of the Living, which draws thousands of participants to Germany and Poland each year to provide a first-hand look at Nazi death camps and teach 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 along with the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Virginia, spoke of the importance of the trip.

“Being here is a testament to who these officers are and the oath they have taken to protect all communities, regardless of their identity,” he told Fox News Digital. “It is a commitment not only to ourselves, but also to the people we serve. These are very difficult times and the police, in all their forms, can play an important role in maintaining democratic values.

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“This initiative is about learning, professional development and remembrance. It's also about reminding us 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, a guided tour of Auschwitz on Monday; a press conference and testimonies from a Holocaust survivor and survivors of anti-Semitic shootings, which will culminate with Tuesday's participation in the March of the Living and a tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Goldenberg said the Holocaust was unique because 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 work. 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 noted the urgency of the situation, noting that armed military units are now guarding 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 join a floral tribute outside the Bondi Pavilion on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Thursday, December 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Markham)

“What is striking is that these are not foreign entities: they are integral parts of the societies in which they exist. A synagogue in Belgium is Belgian. A synagogue in London belongs to London. A synagogue in New York City is part of the fabric of that city,” he told Fox News Digital.

“From a policing perspective, what is deeply worrying is the erosion of security for vulnerable communities. It is a deeply alarming scenario, which in some respects echoes patterns seen in the 1930s,” he added.

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

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

Speaking to Fox News Digital at Auschwitz, Talmoud said that amid rising anti-Semitism, feeling safe in the United States “is really difficult” and would require “systematic change,” adding that he has stopped attending some events where he does not believe adequate safety precautions were taken.

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

“You need to understand that, in the same way that we do not allow racism towards other races and ethnicities, we cannot allow anti-Semitism. It has to come from the top: the school system, the parents, the governments,” Talmoud said.

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

“I have a family history tied to the Holocaust. In the Book of Names, I looked up 'Szkop' and saw a page taller than me filled with that name, along with dates and locations of those who were murdered. I realized that my own name might have appeared there, with 'murdered in Washington, DC' written next to it,” he told Fox News Digital at Auschwitz.

Szkop said she had never been more alert or fearful of possible attacks.

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

Jeanne Hengemuhle, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, told Fox News Digital in Krakow that her agency, which includes 3,500 sworn members and 1,500 civilian employees, works closely with community leaders across the state to address hate-related concerns before they become crises, emphasizing that early engagement, information sharing and collaboration are key to preventing problems before they arise.

“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,” he said.

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

Hengemuhle said that as human beings, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to combat hate, which requires understanding and educating each other, as well as drawing on different police and professional backgrounds.

“This is my first year and I feel very honored to have been invited to participate in the march and learn more. For me, it is about coming together and learning from what happened in the past to not allow it to happen again in the future,” she said.

“The Holocaust did not happen overnight,” he continued. “There were small, incremental changes that ultimately led to what happened. I think it's important that as we come together and have these discussions, we ask ourselves if we're seeing the kinds of early indicators that could lead us down a dangerous path, and how we 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 historic memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Berlin earlier this month, formally launching a new transnational initiative titled “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 Association of Small and Rural Law Enforcement Executives (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 cross-border intelligence sharing, including establishing coordinated operational responses to emerging extremist threats, among other things.

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

Jim Skinner, sheriff of Collin County, Texas, and incoming vice president of the National Sheriffs' Association, told Fox News Digital in Krakow that as a law enforcement leader, his responsibility is to serve everyone equally, noting that while there is significant partisanship and political division in the United States, law enforcement must serve and protect all communities equally.

“We all have an obligation to dig in and make sure hate doesn't happen 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 be able to serve. He added that he traveled to Israel shortly after the Oct. 7 attack 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 gate with the letters “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free) at the start of the annual March of the Living to commemorate victims of the Holocaust during World War II, at the memorial site of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, April 14, 2026. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images)

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

“I think the march,” he continued, “honors the victims of the Holocaust and serves as a reminder of the consequences of hate and the importance of standing against violence and intolerance. That is the message I want everyone I influence to understand.”