When local ABC 7 news anchor Dan Ashley was asked to cover this year’s March of the Living in Poland, he did some marching of his own: right into his boss’ office.
“I said I would like to make this trip,” recalls Ashley. “He was delighted and excited.”
That’s all it took. For the recently concluded March of the Living, on which thousands of Jews from around the world toured key Polish Holocaust sites, Ashley and his crew were the only local American TV news team on the scene. Ashley will report on his trip in a special four-part series due to air on ABC 7’s 6 p.m. newscast starting Monday, May 16.
On Sunday, May 15, Ashley will emcee “Eyewitness to History,” a luncheon honoring Bay Area Holocaust survivors. He’ll certainly be ready for the task. For the Dupont Award-winning journalist, the trip to the death camps was a profound personal and professional experience.
“It was overwhelming on a variety of levels,” he says. “To see something you heard so much about, to realize you’re standing at Auschwitz, which symbolizes the evil of the Nazi regime, and to be there with people who actually spent time there, was very powerful. It dawns on you in a tangible way just how sinister, organized and massive the undertaking was.”
The March of the Living organizes annual trips to Poland and Israel, usually comprised of young people. This year being the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the death camps, the march opened up to Jews of all ages. Visitors toured Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, the Warsaw Ghetto and other historic sites.
“I’d never been to Poland or the death camps,” notes Ashley, “but I’ve been fascinated since I was a teenager about that era in history. I’d read a lot about the Third Reich.”
Some of the Bay Area residents joining the march this year were Holocaust survivors. Ashley says their presence added immeasurably
to the trip and to his reportage.
“It’s particularly important while we have firsthand experience to draw from, that we tap into those people while we can. Obviously, they’re not going to be around that much longer. So while we can, the media should tell their stories.”
Though not Jewish himself, Ashley considers the Holocaust a calamity for Jews in particular and all of humanity in general.
“We must remember that madness can sometimes take hold, that prejudice and hatred can take hold. It may be a long time before something as diabolical and systematic as the Holocaust takes place again, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen again. Jews bear the brunt of this atrocity, but you don’t have to be Jewish to grasp the impact of what happened.”
As somber as the experience can be, Ashley says he and the marchers from the Bay Area got on famously. “There was great camaraderie,” he says. “We spent a lot of time with each other, and to that end it was a personal pleasure. We had a terrific time bonding.”
And, Ashley notes, his Bay Area comrades bestowed on him one more high honor.
Says Ashley: “They declared me a mensch on the bus.”