Eisenhower’s great-grandson walks alongside survivors at March of the Living

In April 1945, General Dwight D Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe, visited the recently liberated Ohrdruff concentration camp. Eisenhower, who had served in the military for three decades and had been in control of the army which stormed the beaches at Normandy, fought their way through France and had now penetrated deep into the heart of Germany, was so horrified at what he saw that he would subsequently telegraph the US Army’s Chief of Staff, requesting that members of Congress and editors of prominent papers be flown to Germany to see the horrors in person. 

Now, in the 80th anniversary year since the end of the Holocaust, a direct descendant of the General who went on to become America’s 34th President joined the 2025 March of the Living, from Auschwitz to the Birkenau death camp three kilometres away. Merrill Eisenhower walked alongside Holocaust survivor Eva Olga Clarke, one of only three babies born in Mauthausen concentration camp who survived the Shoah. She told Jewish News: “When I was told that I would be meeting a real, live Eisenhower, that was wonderful. That first time was in March and the second time was in Auschwitz with March of the Living, and that was very moving. I can tell you that Merrill was being interviewed and there were all these survivors sitting around. I don’t think I’m exaggerating in saying every single one had to give him a hug and they were all saying ‘Thank you’.”

Born on 29 April 1945, (her mother Anka Kaudrová was pregnant when sent to the first of several concentration camps) and now a passionate Holocaust educator, Clarke has formed a unique and profound friendship with Eisenhower, based on mutual respect and a determination by both the Eisenhower family and March of the Living to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are preserved for future generations.

Merrill Eisenhower, 44,  is clearly humbled by the significance his family name carries and the intense emotional legacy it symbolises at Holocaust memorial events.

Sitting at a hotel in central London, ahead of a March of the Living dinner they are both attending, he recalls attending a fundraising event for the organisation in Washington DC. “The next thing you know,” the Kansas native recalls fondly, holding 80-year old Eva’s hand momentarily across the table, “I am introduced to this wonderful lady and we’ve been friends ever since.”

Eisenhower says: “When we talk about Auschwitz, I always say it’s a horrible place. It’s one of the worst places there are. But at the same time, when you’re with the March of the Living and you have the survivors around, it changes what you think about those things.

“It’s a privilege to be with those individuals, those people that survived. I think it meant more to me than it did to them, to be honest with you, just knowing what they had to go through, understanding it, and then being at a place where some of them were and still survived.”

Eva, whose first experience of March of the Living was with Merrill in April, says she continues with her advocacy work because “even though the young people might know the actual history, it does make a difference to actually visit these places. It just has an amazing sort of dimension to their knowledge, to their understanding of possibly where their family members were or were not. That is the way education works.”

With the heartfelt commitment shared by her younger friend, she says: “The only thing I feel that I can do is to tell my mother’s story. Nobody can identify with six million, but everybody can identify with one or two families, absolutely. Because then it becomes personal.”

The two sit companionably, with the father of four reminiscing about a “small place” in Jerusalem that serves the Israel street food sabich, which he could “eat all day, every day”, his attendance at Friday night dinners and Dwight D Eisenhower himself, not as the military hero, but a “great-grandfather, a grandfather and a father.”

He believes that “the rise of antisemitism, the rise of racial discrimination, the rise of hate, can only be combatted by doing good and doing the right thing. Most people in the world are good; there are very few people in the world that are bad and evil. If you’re not standing for something, then bad things happen, and good people must stand to ensure that this stuff doesn’t happen again. My great grandfather was one of those people.”

He adds: “Being an Eisenhower is a privilege. It’s not something I chose, but it is a responsibility to ensure that we are continuing the ideals of freedom, the ideals of fairness, the ideals of everyone is equal, and we treat everyone with respect, regardless of where you come from and who you are.”

While his four children are too young to join him on March of the Living, Merrill says: “My oldest has asked to go already. He wants to go. He understands the concept of the Holocaust and what happened, because we don’t hide what happened. We talk about it at the dinner table. We talk about what happened and what it meant and what happened to a whole entire population of people for no reason.”

More importantly to Eisenhower, “they understand that the world isn’t always fair and the world isn’t always right, but they understand that they need to be fair and righteous and kind, because it takes just as much energy to be mean and angry as it does to be kind and extend a hand.”

Like Eva Clarke, he feels deeply the work he does “is a privilege. If I can change one person’s life at a time, or one person in my lifetime, that’s a life well lived in a positive direction. I’m trying to make a difference in the world. Because I don’t have to choose to do this. Eva doesn’t have to choose to do this. It’s a choice that we’ve consciously made because it is important to talk about the history. It’s important to teach people about the history, and most importantly is, again, standing for up for what’s right.”

Reaching for her handbag before they take one last picture together, Eva nods, adding: “I’ve been telling my mother’s story for the last 25 years. I remember her saying at one time: ‘You know, there’s not always going to be a call for your talks’. And I said, ‘Mummy, I think that racism and prejudice and antisemitism is never going to go away. I don’t feel it’s a heavy burden. I feel it’s my duty, and I’m very glad to be able to do it’.”

Scott Saunders, March of the Living International chief executive and Chairman and founder of March of the Living UK, tells Jewish News: “2025 marked the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2 as well as the liberation of many of the camps. Merrill’s great grandfather was the Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces that liberated many of the Camps in Western Europe, and he himself visited many post liberation.

“It was he who famously stated that he wanted everything photographed and recorded “because some day someone will say this never happened”. Eva, born on 29th April 1945 in Mauthausen Concentration Camp, a mere 6 days before liberation, thanks the Eisenhower family and the brave servicemen of those Allied forces stating, “if it were not for them, I wouldn’t be here.”

“March of the Living has now brought the two together three times, this being the first here in the UK. They have formed quite a unique bond and mutual admiration. They both believe in using their legacy to tell the story and to be at the forefront of fighting antisemitism and hatred wherever it raises its head.”

• Eva Clarke’s mother Anka, was moved from Auschwitz–Birkenau to a slave labour camp near Dresden, Germany, before a seventeen day transportation to Mauthausen. She so shocked when she saw the name of the notorious concentration camp that she went into labour. She weighed just five stone when she gave birth and Eva weighed just 3lb. Anka died on 17 July 2013.