Ride for the Living

In the 75 years since 6 million Jews perished in the Nazi murder factories of Europe, subsequent generations have continued to recite the mantras "Never forget" and "Never again" while at the same time witnessing one genocide after another and a recent tide of nationalism, anti-Semitism and even denial. Now, by documenting an annual bike ride (Ride for the Living) that re-traces the steps of a young Polish holocaust survivor from Auschwitz to Krakow in 1945, and studying the unlikely relationship that arose between that survivor and a 30-year old cycling enthusiast today, we can begin to reveal how human empathy is both a journey and a weapon of defense. And we explore whether the power of empathy might actually be harnessed to face down the way perpetrators of genocide have marshaled fear, ignorance and bigotry. To convert mere remembrance into empathetic action and extinguish the de-humanization that makes genocide possible.