Israeli-American Council’s (IAC’s) Walk-Runs Held in Memory of the 1.5 Million Children Who Died During the Holocaust

LOS ANGELES, April 25 – Thousands of people from California to the nation’s capital yesterday took millions of steps – literally – to fight rising antisemitism and to remember the Holocaust in a series of walk-runs through the Israeli-American Council’s #6MillionSteps campaign.

A series of walk-runs took place nationwide yesterday, including at the “Rocky” steps in Philadelphia; the National Mall in Washington, DC; Chastain Park and Kennesaw State University in greater Atlanta; Babi Yar Park in Denver; Lake Lilly Park in Orlando; Indoor Soccer in Las Vegas; and at the Shoreline Park in the East Bay of San Francisco.

The month-long campaign began April 3 at the Jewish Museum LA, the nation’s only Holocaust museum founded by survivors. #6MillionsSteps will culminate with events on April 27 at Bellevue Downtown Park in Bellevue, WA outside Seattle; on April 28 at North Lake in Irvine, CA; and at Boston’s Freedom Trail on May 1.

Participants so far have amassed nearly 32 million steps toward a national goal of 60 million steps. #6MillionSteps is being dedicated to the one and a half million children who perished in the Holocaust and marks Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 27.

#6MillionSteps creates multiple paths for people to participate, including by connecting their Fitbit, Garmin or other fitness tracker to the digital campaign, adding a #6MillionSteps filter to their social media, and manually counting total steps while walking, running or exercising. Individuals, schools, communal institutions and businesses are organizing and hosting their own events as well.

The campaign also offers a class on removing antisemitic content and Holocaust denial from the Web, resources on the Holocaust’s child victims, and courses for students and educators through IAC’s OFEK Learning Hub.

To learn more about #6MillionSteps click here. To learn more about the OFEK Holocaust education initiative, click here

Memorial candles for the Israeli-American Council’s #6MillionSteps walk-run Sunday to remember the Holocaust and spotlight antisemitism on the National Mall, with the Washington Monument in the background. Photo credit – Tamar Pinto.

Participants in the Israeli-American Council’s #6MillionSteps walk-run Sunday on the National Mall to remember the Holocaust and spotlight rising antisemitism. Photo credit – Neta Ein-Gil Glassberg

Participants in the Israeli-American Council’s #6MillionSteps walk-run Sunday in Philadelphia head from the Rocky Steps to the Holocaust Memorial to remember the Holocaust and spotlight rising antisemitism. Photo credit: Boaz Ozery.

A toddler and Holocaust survivor were among the participants in the Israeli-American Council’s #6MillionSteps walk-run Sunday in Las Vegas to remember the Holocaust and spotlight rising antisemitism. Photo credit: Ofra Etzion.