Third edition of ‘Holocaust Memorial Tournament’ leaves lasting mark on 400 youngsters

The third edition of the annual tournament involving young players from Italy, Poland, Germany, and Ukraine held in Proszowice, just a few kilometres away from Krakow, finished with a large party attended by some 400 youngsters. The competition involved 26 teams – 12 men’s sides in the U17 tournament and another 14 teams in the women’s competition open to players under the age of 16. They experienced much more than ‘just’ Volleyball action, since they travelled together to the former concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau with highly qualified guides sharing insights into the Holocaust and the mass murdering of millions of Jews and other people persecuted by the Nazi regime during World War II.  

The journey did obviously leave a real mark on these youngsters – who before travelling to Poland had also attended a play called ‘Bambino nel vento’ recounting those years and the horror of the concentration camps. 

As far as the competition is concerned, Ukraine’s KZ Sdyusshor Poltava 1 emerged victorious from the U16 women’s event with Italy’s Susegana Sosus and Poland’s Karate Malopolski completing the podium. Home heroes Pogon Proszowice were the dominant force of the men’s U17 tournament, with Sparta Krakow and MKS Andrychow completing an all-Polish podium.

Three members of the Italian youth national team – Martina Susio, Veronica Quero and Caterina Peroni – set the tone of the competition with the highly symbolic first serve. The tournament was organised by Exa – a group comprising of Italian clubs working at the grassroots level – and the NGO Modena per gli altri, under the patronage of the National Volleyball Federations of Italy and Poland.