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Source: http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/" xmlns:blogger="http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 01:20:51 +0000</lastBuildDate><category>Righteous Among the Nations</category><category>Holocaust</category><category>Names Database</category><category>Belarus</category><category>Marking the New Year</category><category>Pages of Testimony</category><category>Yad Vashem online Exhibition</category><category>articles</category><category>books</category><title>Insights and Perspectives from Yad Vashem</title><description>Yad Vashem, located on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, was established in 1953.  Dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, documentation, research and education, Yad Vashem seeks to meaningfully impart the legacy of the Shoah for generations to come.</description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>301</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-4143899813854132537</guid><pubDate>Sun, 26 Mar 2017 08:45:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2017-03-27T11:37:14.966+03:00</atom:updated><title>The Long Lost Powder Compact</title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; dir=&quot;LTR&quot; style=&quot;direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;&quot;&gt;
2. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
3. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD3fya_tUOxE4I72rzz7FZbbcQbR3JuHb7klA5J7fqbjQePU4I1AVnful96gNlRLgDmx7AUe6Kwt4oUWXBg3l5MZ8GIjyTj_gvDGs1mX5YCaw-TcCLcdr8BwDY7BY107oRna4PXfj9wAE/s1600/Compact.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD3fya_tUOxE4I72rzz7FZbbcQbR3JuHb7klA5J7fqbjQePU4I1AVnful96gNlRLgDmx7AUe6Kwt4oUWXBg3l5MZ8GIjyTj_gvDGs1mX5YCaw-TcCLcdr8BwDY7BY107oRna4PXfj9wAE/s320/Compact.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
4. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Powder compact owned by Jacob Stopnicki</span></td></tr>
5. </tbody></table>
6. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Wieder family was very anxious upon their
7. return visit to Yad Vashem. Last year, Tina and Marcel toured Yad Vashem with
8. their two sons, Erik and Sean, in honor of Sean's bar mitzvah. However, due to
9. a recent extraordinary discovery by staff in Yad Vashem's Artifacts Department,
10. the Wieders learned that a small silver powder compact that once belonged to
11. Tina's grandparents is on display in the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum.
12. They eagerly returned to Israel from their hometown in Canada to view this
13. special Holocaust-era treasure for the very first time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
14. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
15. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
16. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
17. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The extraordinary story began with Tina's
18. maternal grandparents, Jacob and Tanya Stopnicki, who were incarcerated in the
19. Lodz ghetto. In 1941, Jacob gave Tanya the powder compact as a gift, for which
20. he traded for his daily ration of bread. Against all odds, Jacob was also able
21. to save Tanya and their infant daughter Krysia by hiding them in a bunker in
22. the ghetto until the end of the war. Krysia was one of the few children who
23. were born in the Lodz ghetto and miraculously survived. Sadly, Tanya passed
24. away a year after the ghetto was liberated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
25. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
26. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
27. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
28. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
29. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0rGkKy7CXpC3ZvfaAD6R4-qpj9Zp8KRKQjbPWLc7XPT0GkEQe_cuGHHdA2bN0MNCHmVSoBAxNTDEsWwuMmmC0Wi9eL60UE2BrFn_fadI0dow6CEHp5WrDrELBIqZT0V394QLSenpHTyk/s1600/16122_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0rGkKy7CXpC3ZvfaAD6R4-qpj9Zp8KRKQjbPWLc7XPT0GkEQe_cuGHHdA2bN0MNCHmVSoBAxNTDEsWwuMmmC0Wi9eL60UE2BrFn_fadI0dow6CEHp5WrDrELBIqZT0V394QLSenpHTyk/s320/16122_2.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
30. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacob and daughter Krysia</td></tr>
31. </tbody></table>
32. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The powder compact was donated to the Yad
33. Vashem Artifacts Collection by a survivor who later moved to Israel after the war. After Yad Vashem
34. researchers began to investigate, they started to unravel the mysterious details
35. behind the compact and its owners. On the powder compact is a portrait of a
36. Jewish man behind barbed wire, etched by Jewish artist Max Prinz. Researchers
37. were able to determine that this portrait was based on a photograph taken by
38. Lodz ghetto photographer Mendel Grossman of his father, Shmuel Grossman. On the
39. back of the compact is engraved, "Ghetto Lodz 1941." Shmuel Grossman and
40. Max Prinz were murdered in the Holocaust.</span></div>
41. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
42. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"></span><br /><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"></span></span></div>
43. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
44. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2tC9bJ17QJNIEm6kZ7_xazViqxecgxbBl1nv5mUF3SiyGuA778aCcjyHiAMYIsEVBAfSH0Xv3jUsjYS25a_QbvQAlaoTuln0mGP9Q6Y9ezVY1L7zoj0mNjgHVgUelg-VErHxt8s6MDy8/s1600/DSC_0844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2tC9bJ17QJNIEm6kZ7_xazViqxecgxbBl1nv5mUF3SiyGuA778aCcjyHiAMYIsEVBAfSH0Xv3jUsjYS25a_QbvQAlaoTuln0mGP9Q6Y9ezVY1L7zoj0mNjgHVgUelg-VErHxt8s6MDy8/s320/DSC_0844.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
45. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Michael Tal, Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection showing Tina </span><br />
46. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rosenstein hergrandfather's powder </span><br />
47. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">compact as it is displayed in the museum </span></td></tr>
48. </tbody></table>
49. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
50. <span style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The researchers worked tirelessly to try to
51. find more information about the owners of the compact and their family members.
52. To complicate matters further, they discovered various documents in several
53. archives pertaining to no less than three people named Jacob Stopnicki  in the
54. Lodz ghetto. After much cross-referencing and examination, they found several
55. photographs of Jacob and Tanya Stopnicki taken by another Lodz ghetto
56. photographer, Henryk Ross, during the war. Much to their amazement, they also
57. found living descendants of the couple living in Canada – their granddaughter,
58. Tina and Krysia. </span></span></div>
59. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
60. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
61. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
62. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig6LPXUv9I1CANi5DzFR6m_8QR1ZaHg6PK8kgvuLwCSSzERQ8TZoPoMYwwayayuR2hJiQ8I4iqVNGICJlt1L91riQn-XlzKlsjrwdm-5AnCa2hQQWdFmN0fR4GO2nBHaGGoCcKy-dbMOU/s1600/DSC_0858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig6LPXUv9I1CANi5DzFR6m_8QR1ZaHg6PK8kgvuLwCSSzERQ8TZoPoMYwwayayuR2hJiQ8I4iqVNGICJlt1L91riQn-XlzKlsjrwdm-5AnCa2hQQWdFmN0fR4GO2nBHaGGoCcKy-dbMOU/s320/DSC_0858.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
63. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Michael Tal presenting Tina Rosenstein and</span><br />
64. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> her children witha photo he discovered of </span><br />
65. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">her grandfather Jacob before the War</span></td></tr>
66. </tbody></table>
67. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-indent: 36pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
68. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
69. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
70. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">      Before entering the museum, an emotional Tina face-timed with her
71. mother, Krysia, who lives in Florida, and wished she could have made the
72. journey to see the compact. "I
73. was truly overwhelmed with emotion holding my grandfather's powder compact for
74. the first time. I will always remember my grandfather as a generous and loving
75. man," she said. "Holding
76. the compact, I tried to imagine what he felt like giving such a beautiful present
77. to his wife under such horrific conditions." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
78. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
79. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
80. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
81. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">      </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tina continued, "I
82. still can't believe the personal connection I now have with Yad Vashem -
83. part of our family's history is literally on display to share with the millions
84. of visitors that come here every year.  I
85. told my teenage boys that I hope that when they grow up they bring their
86. children to see the powder compact displayed in the Lodz ghetto exhibit and that
87. they never forget their personal </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">connection to Yad Vashem."</span></div>
88. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-long-lost-powder-compact.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD3fya_tUOxE4I72rzz7FZbbcQbR3JuHb7klA5J7fqbjQePU4I1AVnful96gNlRLgDmx7AUe6Kwt4oUWXBg3l5MZ8GIjyTj_gvDGs1mX5YCaw-TcCLcdr8BwDY7BY107oRna4PXfj9wAE/s72-c/Compact.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-8447275965685884706</guid><pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2016 16:19:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-12-13T18:19:35.829+02:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot; class=&quot;MsoBodyText&quot; style=&quot;direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;&quot;&gt;
89. <b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">First
90. Cousins Reunite at Yad Vashem <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
91. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
92. <br /></div>
93. <div align="center" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;">
94. <i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">"I
95. grew up believing that we had no family, that everyone was murdered in
96. Poland…Thanks to Yad Vashem, we discovered that we are not alone" <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
97. <div class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; text-align: right; unicode-bidi: embed;">
98. <i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Henia Moskowitz Borenstein<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
99. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
100. <br /></div>
101. <div class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;">
102. <br /></div>
103. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
104. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlcpXAT9OAeGpUSAGTc7Rgcj0pu_sr27K7EdTM7oOntKJWHGTQYDKGkLbuh3RPqG6afku4ud7RtES6aqb1kptdetUR2MvETdNSnDVlhCHC20O0D2xg0Qag6mVusHKqfb8L_-4Rfwqfq4/s1600/DSC_0727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlcpXAT9OAeGpUSAGTc7Rgcj0pu_sr27K7EdTM7oOntKJWHGTQYDKGkLbuh3RPqG6afku4ud7RtES6aqb1kptdetUR2MvETdNSnDVlhCHC20O0D2xg0Qag6mVusHKqfb8L_-4Rfwqfq4/s320/DSC_0727.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
105. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sisters Henia Borenstein Moskowitz and Rywka Borenstein
106. Patchnik <br />
107. on their way to meet first cousins Fania Band Blakay and Gennadi Band</td></tr>
108. </tbody></table>
109. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
110. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Sisters Henia and Rywka Borenstein went through life believing
111. they were alone. Their parents had died when they were young, and they were
112. told that their extended family had been wiped out in the Holocaust. Over 75
113. years after their onslaught of the Holocaust, they received a phone call that
114. would change their lives. Today, at Yad Vashem, they met first cousins for the
115. first time, thanks to the efforts of the <b>Reference and Information Services
116. Department</b> in the <b>Yad Vashem Archives</b> <b>Division</b> and a <b>Page
117. of Testimony</b> found on <a href="http://yvng.yadvashem.org/">Yad Vashem's
118. Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names</a>. </span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
119. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
120. <br /></div>
121. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
122. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKtiaKSTjqBunXN-GrYxwMSnIi4zSsD1epxzW7GyoImJ5-CT1m3c13qosziKCrUbIw3QBfl5fJFg9y-2liOaixDirZH3N784RV5ppsPd9Z2rXXiH_z0dErzl3SRKsidzWcjXM5-xqCGgQ/s1600/DSC_0778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKtiaKSTjqBunXN-GrYxwMSnIi4zSsD1epxzW7GyoImJ5-CT1m3c13qosziKCrUbIw3QBfl5fJFg9y-2liOaixDirZH3N784RV5ppsPd9Z2rXXiH_z0dErzl3SRKsidzWcjXM5-xqCGgQ/s400/DSC_0778.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
123. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to right: Gennadi Band, Fania Band Blakay, <br />
124. Henia
125. Borenstein Moskowitz and Rywka Borenstein Patchnik <br />
126. holding pictures of siblings
127. Nisan Band and Jenta Band Borenstein </td></tr>
128. </tbody></table>
129. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
130. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Born in
131. Warsaw in 1912, <b>Nisan Band</b> had five sisters. In 1939, Nisan and his wife
132. Ida, left behind their extended family and fled the Nazis to the USSR, where he
133. remained until his death in 1983. Throughout the years, Nisan was convinced
134. that his entire family had been murdered in the Holocaust; however, he never
135. gave up hope of finding some remnants of his family. His children, <b>Fania </b>and<b>
136. Gennadi</b>, immigrated to Israel with their families in the 1990s.</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
137. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
138. <br /></div>
139. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
140. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPAy-GltyC8K1X4ifco2eUQafuVeVAzlXnyM4Mum80KGBxjdXW_dwuGxXzJouj9daPjpdB_ICalfBmwHay6VfIPbu9DuTD660-2bBaKB7F5r5DvXXceZmtLDlvjFNbeKqRx6pO02lLeU/s1600/0743a.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPAy-GltyC8K1X4ifco2eUQafuVeVAzlXnyM4Mum80KGBxjdXW_dwuGxXzJouj9daPjpdB_ICalfBmwHay6VfIPbu9DuTD660-2bBaKB7F5r5DvXXceZmtLDlvjFNbeKqRx6pO02lLeU/s320/0743a.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
141. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rywka Borenstein Patchnik and Fania Band Blakay <br />
142. embracing
143. for the first time at Yad Vashem</td></tr>
144. </tbody></table>
145. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
146. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Earlier this year, following a "roots
147. trip" to Poland, Fania (b. 1949) searched Yad Vashem's Central Database of
148. Holocaust Victims' Names, and found a Page of Testimony that a <b>Symcha Borenstein</b>
149. had filled out in memory of Fania's father, Nisan Band. At the foot of the
150. form, Symcha noted that he was Nisan's brother-in-law. Last week, Fania and her
151. son, Evgeni, came to Yad Vashem to find out who, they believed, had mistakenly
152. commemorated Nisan. <b>Sima Velkovich</b> of Yad Vashem's Reference and
153. Information Services Department conducted a search of the Pages of Testimony as
154. well as the ITS (International Tracing Service) database, where she discovered
155. that, unbeknown to Nisan, his sister <b>Jenta Borenstein</b> (née Band) had
156. also been in the Soviet Union during the war and survived together with her
157. husband and their four children. <b>Hercz-Lejb</b> (b. 1924), <b>Abram</b> (b.
158. 1927) and <b>Rywka</b> (b. 1931), were all born in Warsaw, and <b>Hana </b>(b.
159. 1942)was born in Siberia. In September 1948, Jenta and Symcha immigrated to
160. Israel together with their two daugthers , Rywka  and Hana. Sima's investigation of the story also
161. revealed that Rywka and Hana (known as Henia), still live in Israel today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
162. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
163. <br /></div>
164. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
165. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-snMTA2wM302WOCBKmEs1kT79nixt_rX4dJgDp4Gnedgl8V8wp-0vmUcyTlXjFLAw2alxmE9WhG48C4KeKxg7JMzyU8XiECnKFI3MdhbNIW4jZo-CuvK-ZHCAaehaLRJ5hYld1UnPha0/s1600/DSC_0739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-snMTA2wM302WOCBKmEs1kT79nixt_rX4dJgDp4Gnedgl8V8wp-0vmUcyTlXjFLAw2alxmE9WhG48C4KeKxg7JMzyU8XiECnKFI3MdhbNIW4jZo-CuvK-ZHCAaehaLRJ5hYld1UnPha0/s400/DSC_0739.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
166. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Band and Borenstein families unite at Yad Vashem</td></tr>
167. </tbody></table>
168. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
169. <b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Today at
170. Yad Vashem, Rywka and Henia met with their first cousins, Fania and Gennadi, as
171. well as Fania's son Evgeni, for the first time.</span></b><b><span dir="RTL" lang="HE"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
172. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
173. <br /></div>
174. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
175. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">"It is difficult to describe how
176. I feel," remarked Fania Bilkay, who shared old family pictures she had
177. saved of her father Nisan in Poland before the war. "I am deeply moved and
178. very happy. My father always searched for members of his family and dreamed of
179. finding them. He was alone. But ultimately, in this meeting today, his dream has
180. finally come true." </span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
181. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
182. <br /></div>
183. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
184. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">When Henia received the call from Yad
185. Vashem that she has a cousin who was looking for her, she was in shock. "I
186. grew up believing that our entire family was murdered in Poland. My parents
187. never talked about the Shoah or their past lives. At first, I thought this news
188. was a mistake. However, today when we met, I felt a connection at first sight;
189. my family has grown overnight. Thanks to Yad Vashem, we discovered that we are
190. not alone." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
191. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
192. <br /></div>
193. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
194. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisg8x6BWdqex2oGKJThHzdTrkAXA2j0X_5xBp6gnlUu9-vlnaUm-TLdKsxR92Gn0HWRNt9Q3fl30OLcW2l2T59LSeRhA_IAcv_dgAUzTyovQ6ThOufrwYdLCpXd295mFxorlctJv6rVJc/s1600/DSC_0791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisg8x6BWdqex2oGKJThHzdTrkAXA2j0X_5xBp6gnlUu9-vlnaUm-TLdKsxR92Gn0HWRNt9Q3fl30OLcW2l2T59LSeRhA_IAcv_dgAUzTyovQ6ThOufrwYdLCpXd295mFxorlctJv6rVJc/s320/DSC_0791.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
195. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family photos from before the Holocaust</td></tr>
196. </tbody></table>
197. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
198. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Evgeni expressed his deep gratitude to
199. Yad Vashem for its "important and meaningful work… this illustrates the
200. connection that exists between all Jews. Here in one place, in Jerusalem, Yad
201. Vashem has the capability of reuniting families even after all hope is lost."
202. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
203. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
204. <br /></div>
205. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
206. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">A family reunion such as this one, which
207. occurred thanks to information filled out on Pages of Testimony, is rare. Nevertheless,
208. Yad Vashem is committed to aiding anyone in search of lost family members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
209. <div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
210. <br /></div>
211. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
212. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">"Yad Vashem has embarked on a
213. mission to uncover the names of those who have no one to remember them, and we
214. will not rest until our mission is complete," said Yad Vashem Chairman
215. Avner Shalev. "I urge families who will be gathering shortly for the
216. holiday of Hanukah to check and make sure that their loved ones who were
217. murdered in the Holocaust are remembered and recorded in Yad Vashem's Central
218. Database of Shoah Victims' Names, and submit Pages of Testimony for those
219. victims whose names are not yet recorded."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
220. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
221. <br /></div>
222. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
223. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKYDR52QyeYt6Ue-j1gUlUitvcoFOxUwkoNDqBN1VVXM4sBZFd0usf9Nwx2GDunnGVnL27CXS1qMnzkWbqKdJ5E93ydhr_Xj-vBWUxI38A3QMQ_MgjxEuGRi0dvS2Wj0gTUuUkUEmCfI/s1600/DSC_0799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKYDR52QyeYt6Ue-j1gUlUitvcoFOxUwkoNDqBN1VVXM4sBZFd0usf9Nwx2GDunnGVnL27CXS1qMnzkWbqKdJ5E93ydhr_Xj-vBWUxI38A3QMQ_MgjxEuGRi0dvS2Wj0gTUuUkUEmCfI/s320/DSC_0799.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
224. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newly united cousins Fania Blakay and Henia Borenstein
225. Moskowitz</td></tr>
226. </tbody></table>
227. <br />
228. <br />
229. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
230. </div>
231. <br />
232. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
233. </div>
234. <br />
235. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
236. </div>
237. <br />
238. <br />
239. <br />
240. <br />
241. <br />
242. <br />
243. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
244. </div>
245. <div class="MsoBodyText" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;">
246. <br /></div>
247. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/12/firstcousins-reunite-at-yad-vashem.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlcpXAT9OAeGpUSAGTc7Rgcj0pu_sr27K7EdTM7oOntKJWHGTQYDKGkLbuh3RPqG6afku4ud7RtES6aqb1kptdetUR2MvETdNSnDVlhCHC20O0D2xg0Qag6mVusHKqfb8L_-4Rfwqfq4/s72-c/DSC_0727.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-3808185892530699723</guid><pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2016 13:27:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-11-22T15:27:36.131+02:00</atom:updated><title>&quot;The Gift of Life&quot;</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
248. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
249. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Emotions
250. flowed earlier this week during a heartfelt ceremony at Yad Vashem. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Participants travelled near and far to attend
251. a special ceremony posthumously honoring </span><b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Joseph and Marie Andries</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> from
252. Belgium as Righteous Among the Nations. Aside from the importance of
253. recognizing and giving thanks to these individuals who risked their lives to
254. rescue Jews during the Holocaust, the research process yielded the discovery of
255. long-lost relatives of Benno Gerson and Anni Goldberg, Jewish children who were
256. saved by Joseph and Marie Andries. Extended family members from Israel and the
257. US were both excited and proud to take part in this ceremony honoring the
258. couple who saved their cousins. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
259. <br />
260. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
261. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
262. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuUnoNolEIV3UE5z33Pjb5YskDUc1HLEsDZzftsWpyuJrv_Hb09LAK4zvaNUMiZnG5dgTNClAcS_z9R83LMiL9KiD7cx_bbUjgGjWigLggxvm2JD-fLucBhug5lgg1atUncg0sqgx3-00/s1600/marie+and+benno+and+anni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuUnoNolEIV3UE5z33Pjb5YskDUc1HLEsDZzftsWpyuJrv_Hb09LAK4zvaNUMiZnG5dgTNClAcS_z9R83LMiL9KiD7cx_bbUjgGjWigLggxvm2JD-fLucBhug5lgg1atUncg0sqgx3-00/s320/marie+and+benno+and+anni.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
263. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Marie Andries with Benno Gerson and Anni Goldberg</span></td></tr>
264. </tbody></table>
265. </o:p></span></div>
266. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">The story began right after the <i>Kristallnacht</i>
267. pogrom in November 1938, when Luser-Ludwig and Pepi Gershonowitz decided to
268. leave Germany. They first sent their daughter Anni to the Netherlands, and then
269. followed with their younger son, Benno. Eventually the family settled in
270. Brussels, Belgium. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
271. <br />
272. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
273. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
274. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">When the deportations from Belgium
275. began in 1942, the Gershonowitz family decided to separate from their children
276. in order to save them. Seven-year-old Anni and five-year-old Benno were brought
277. to the home of Joseph and Marie Andries in Anderlecht. On 24 September 1942,
278. Ludwig and Pepi were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where they were
279. murdered. Several months later, the Andries family and the children moved to
280. Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, where they remained until the end of the war. Joseph and
281. Marie Andries were childless, and at some point separated; the two children
282. remained with Marie, who continued to care for them lovingly. Life was simple,
283. and Marie sometimes received help from her relatives, the Rampelbergs, who
284. provided her with some additional food. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
285. <br />
286. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
287. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
288. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
289. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdapNUex4YV3BFzHD8TF54epY90zHfVF6U0nK0BiJnbm1CIbkZ1VlIUMy-hgcjX5Mx22DIAthUBhlmlmdtCgr3xYMCIG7-AA4kdV4qg5nAm1MatqK1FEE7ttzy5R_vTpnkaqHBwiGnr74/s1600/ISH_8535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdapNUex4YV3BFzHD8TF54epY90zHfVF6U0nK0BiJnbm1CIbkZ1VlIUMy-hgcjX5Mx22DIAthUBhlmlmdtCgr3xYMCIG7-AA4kdV4qg5nAm1MatqK1FEE7ttzy5R_vTpnkaqHBwiGnr74/s320/ISH_8535.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
290. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Dr. Francoise Rampelberg</span><br />
291. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">accepting the medal and certificate</span><br />
292. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">of honor</span></td></tr>
293. </tbody></table>
294. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">After the war, contact was established
295. with a relative of the Gershonowitz family in the United States, and in 1947
296. Anni and Benno left Marie Andries’ home and sailed to New York. In 1983,
297. shortly before Marie Andries passed away, Benno travelled to Belgium and
298. visited his rescuer one last time. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
299. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
300. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
301. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Accepting the certificate and medal on
302. behalf of the late Joseph and Marie Andries was Dr. Francoise Rampelberg</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">, who
303. travelled especially from Switzerland to attend the ceremony. Dr. Rampelberg recounted
304. fond childhood memories of Marie, who lived in a typical Brussels apartment with
305. her dog. She explained that Marie and her grandparents got along very well, but
306. that she only recently discovered what an extraordinary and courageous woman
307. Marie was: Marie never spoke of how she hid two Jewish children. "The
308. medal and certificate are proof that brave people with a conscience did exist
309. during those dark times. They attest to the fact that friendship can triumph
310. under even the most dangerous circumstances… they represent symbols of hope for
311. the future." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
312. <br />
313. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
314. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
315. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
316. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMLGT56b5lELs03eWBfvGo6cmkAqNkPjq8To4KZAaO7kijvnXrBO_MbnzltWVd-CFT8BvxN9IkgkSL6__SyFj7lvlGp6JN4nSUpfv-nt00FhB17jqNZRfafidew1LF4BraTVXqHQ8yzg/s1600/ISH_8617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMLGT56b5lELs03eWBfvGo6cmkAqNkPjq8To4KZAaO7kijvnXrBO_MbnzltWVd-CFT8BvxN9IkgkSL6__SyFj7lvlGp6JN4nSUpfv-nt00FhB17jqNZRfafidew1LF4BraTVXqHQ8yzg/s320/ISH_8617.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
317. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">
318.  
319. </span><br />
320. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
321. <span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;">Dr. Francoise Rampelberg with Holocaust survivor </span></span></span></span></div>
322. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
323. <span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;">Benno
324. Gerson and Stefan </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;">Goldberg unveiling Righteous Marie </span></span></span></span></div>
325. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
326. <span style="color: #1f497d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;">and Joseph Andries's names
327. of the Wall of Honor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
328. <span style="font-size: small;">
329.  
330. </span></td></tr>
331. </tbody></table>
332. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Holocaust
333. survivor Benno Gerson, and Serge and Stefan Goldberg, sons of Anni Goldberg <i>z"l</i>,
334. traveled from the United States to participate in this rare event. While Benno admitted
335. he did not remember much from the war period, he described his memories of
336. Marie with love and affection. He called her "<i>mamak</i>," Flemish
337. for mother, and recalled how Marie had saved his sister's life twice - once
338. when she summoned a doctor to take out Anni's tonsils, and another time when
339. she had to cut out an infection from Anni's finger. Benno described how his <i>mamak</i>
340. made special arrangements for them to be homeschooled in order to ensure that they
341. received an education. "The risk she took to protect us are beyond my understanding.
342. No one deserves this honor more… I've had a wonderful  life because of Marie and
343. Joseph Andries. They gave me the gift of life." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
344. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
345. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
346. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Benno also described
347. his delight to be united    with all of his newly extended family. "We never
348. knew that we had relatives in Israel. My sister and I believed we were the only
349. survivors and that was it. So it was a shock… a happy shock." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
350. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
351.  </div>
352. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
353. </div>
354. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
355. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheh1RirdZEiJKMke2T1FzkLcEdEEkiKbzAAoO0TJ3GSFRUdwSTvLRo3s9RYSNlGSh9mapm6sWRvKAfGRMwHENeEx1WdG4Gu2kVK42_DDRs5wRB6w7_By8NDZppiRwDMfIYRoeLrfIm1O8/s1600/ISH_8628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheh1RirdZEiJKMke2T1FzkLcEdEEkiKbzAAoO0TJ3GSFRUdwSTvLRo3s9RYSNlGSh9mapm6sWRvKAfGRMwHENeEx1WdG4Gu2kVK42_DDRs5wRB6w7_By8NDZppiRwDMfIYRoeLrfIm1O8/s320/ISH_8628.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
356. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Dr. Rampleberg, Serge and Stefan Goldberg </span><br />
357. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">with extended family members and the American </span><br />
358. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Ambassador to Israel, Ron Dermer and Belgium Ambassador </span><br />
359. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">to Israel</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Olivier Belle</span><br />
360.  </td></tr>
361. </tbody></table>
362. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Serge
363. Goldberg thanked Yad Vashem for honoring Marie and Andries and for all of their
364. hard work to bring together this "unimaginable and unlikely family reunion."
365. Serge recalled fond memories of his loving and loyal mother, Anni. He related that
366. strong family loyalty was of the utmost importance to her, and that she had
367. always hoped that her children and grandchildren would grow up without fear. "This
368. was a wonderful event for our family. We are so happy to be here despite all the
369. trauma that occurred 70 years ago. I never would have imagined that one day I
370. would be standing here at Yad Vashem for an event like this." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
371. <br />
372. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
373. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
374. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Hopeful for
375. future generations, Benno added, "It's so important that we continue to educate
376. and remember what happened, so that such a tragedy can never occur again. We
377. need more tolerance and for people to get along better. That’s my hope - that
378. people will never have to experience what my sister and I did with the loss of
379. our parents." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
380. <br />
381. <br />
382. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
383. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Yad Vashem has currently recognized
384. 1,707 Righteous from Belgium. To date, more than 26,000 individuals have
385. received the honor. More information about the <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/index.asp"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Righteous Among the
386. Nations</span></a>, including background details, stories and the Database of
387. Righteous, can be found <a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/search.html?language=en"><span style="color: #0563c1;">online</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><u><span style="color: #0563c1;"> here</span></u></span>. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
388. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-gift-of-life.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuUnoNolEIV3UE5z33Pjb5YskDUc1HLEsDZzftsWpyuJrv_Hb09LAK4zvaNUMiZnG5dgTNClAcS_z9R83LMiL9KiD7cx_bbUjgGjWigLggxvm2JD-fLucBhug5lgg1atUncg0sqgx3-00/s72-c/marie+and+benno+and+anni.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-5879027749238672200</guid><pubDate>Sun, 20 Nov 2016 13:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-11-21T10:52:21.121+02:00</atom:updated><title>Journey of the Doomed Revisited</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
389. <br />
390. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
391. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirINw5aGM1uV8ECI60419ciLxGjeBo-qZ0WKtSrw_hRM2zCpa-Z81_ruPwu7-aqyclRya-87MnIYU55qL4YKdpzxfLAls2KEQ667GvtYHFtooAFG9KhD5NWVG-QfQsSP16lQe_lNqhDoo/s1600/2656_33.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirINw5aGM1uV8ECI60419ciLxGjeBo-qZ0WKtSrw_hRM2zCpa-Z81_ruPwu7-aqyclRya-87MnIYU55qL4YKdpzxfLAls2KEQ667GvtYHFtooAFG9KhD5NWVG-QfQsSP16lQe_lNqhDoo/s320/2656_33.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
392. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Passengers aboard the SS St. Louis ocean liner (Yad Vashem Archives)</span></td></tr>
393. </tbody></table>
394. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
395. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Last week, Yad Vashem had the honor of welcoming six survivors who were
396. passengers on the <i>SS St. Louis</i>, the ocean liner that departed Hamburg in
397. May 1939 carrying hundreds of German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>To the passengers' dismay the over 900
398. passengers, many of them Jewish, were denied entry twice, first by the Cuban
399. authorities and subsequently by the American government who, despite intensive
400. lobbying efforts by the local Jewish community, refused to allow the passengers
401. to disembark at Havana, Cuba and Miami Beach, Florida. Captain Gustav Schroder
402. tried to persuade Cuban and American authorities to allow the passengers to
403. enter; however, he was eventually left with no choice but to turn back to Germany.
404. Nonetheless, thanks to his courageous efforts and determination, the passengers
405. were able to enter Belgium, France, Holland and the UK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
406. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
407. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq89zrAQnMxmTC8POxRKAMGm6dlhlKvQRmvCdKesZPEMBCjAl_T_e-4O3jvenaUTnTSDMRukUd0xPVbB5CBNoo6ajyzNR5R_FMky3_2zZ2gmvWQuN0geCiXTxRAWW4D2PfJnwih0HAd-8/s1600/1086_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq89zrAQnMxmTC8POxRKAMGm6dlhlKvQRmvCdKesZPEMBCjAl_T_e-4O3jvenaUTnTSDMRukUd0xPVbB5CBNoo6ajyzNR5R_FMky3_2zZ2gmvWQuN0geCiXTxRAWW4D2PfJnwih0HAd-8/s320/1086_9.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
408. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Passengers aboard the SS St. Louis (Courtesy</span><br />
409. <span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: xx-small;">of Yad Vashem Archives)</span></td></tr>
410. </tbody></table>
411. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Almost 77 years later, a group of six survivors and family members traveled
412. to Israel to meet and participate in ceremonies commemorating this pivotal
413. event. This momentous visit was the first time a group of survivors of the <i>St.
414. Louis</i> had visited Yad Vashem together. The group, including survivors and
415. family members, toured the Holocaust History Museum, where they saw the
416. exhibition dedicated to the story of the <i>St. Louis</i>. Additionally, they visited
417. the Visual Center where Robert Krakow, head of the SS St. Legacy Project that
418. initiated the mission, donated the documentary film Complicit</span><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="mso-special-character: comment;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">,
419. which tells the story of the <i>St. Louis</i> and features eyewitness
420. testimonies of several survivors from that faithful voyage. The tour concluded with
421. a ceremony in the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations, where they paid their
422. respects to Captain Schroder, who was recognized as <a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/righteousName.html?language=en&itemId=4017400">Righteous Among the Nations</a>
423. in March 1993 and is inscribed on the Wall of Honor in the Garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
424. 
425.  
426. <br />
427. <br />
428. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
429. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4mCX2K1VZL6_d78qRb32rvHaNTM5398JfrRGmTQvdZ6YAbBzUxU1ArXKlcCBnnv1gb-_aTybwYkMs8v_HrKga434Fn3jL_Tk6GX2NY6u3Pk8TXYg-RnMXqvtiqQnu60Lza5bImVCeLt8/s1600/IMG_5291.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4mCX2K1VZL6_d78qRb32rvHaNTM5398JfrRGmTQvdZ6YAbBzUxU1ArXKlcCBnnv1gb-_aTybwYkMs8v_HrKga434Fn3jL_Tk6GX2NY6u3Pk8TXYg-RnMXqvtiqQnu60Lza5bImVCeLt8/s320/IMG_5291.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
430. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Survivors of the SS St. Louis viewing the exhibit of the </span><br />
431. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">St. Louis in the Yad Vashem Holocaust </span><br />
432. <span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: xx-small;">History Musuem </span></td></tr>
433. </tbody></table>
434. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Sonja Geismar was a young girl on the passenger ship along with her
435. parents, paternal grandparents and three great-aunts. She remembers waving
436. goodbye to cousins when the ship reached the port of Havana; she sadly also remembers
437. that she never saw those family members again. After the ship was refused entry
438. into both Havana and Miami, she eventually disembarked in England. Later, she immigrated
439. to New York. Sonja remarked that her visit to Yad Vashem was very meaningful
440. and different from her previous visits because she had the opportunity to meet with
441. fellow survivors. "Seeing the exhibition in the museum on the <i>St. Louis</i>
442. is a reminder of how fortunate my family and I are," she explained.</span><br />
443. <br />
444. <br />
445. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
446. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0yy4DKRml4zhD7CmZn1CKHoqRuj_ULZp550Fa205d8O8qr4CEci3uTDyfnQdRyQ-zG0QKhjYOGeoHaKQqBw5fw2q7qXYYubStMneKvQxBajBL0SFBuh7F2W2hDD_rDjzF0z1erWqFmU/s1600/DSC_0156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0yy4DKRml4zhD7CmZn1CKHoqRuj_ULZp550Fa205d8O8qr4CEci3uTDyfnQdRyQ-zG0QKhjYOGeoHaKQqBw5fw2q7qXYYubStMneKvQxBajBL0SFBuh7F2W2hDD_rDjzF0z1erWqFmU/s320/DSC_0156.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
447. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Survivors of the SS St. Louis at the Garden of the Righteous</span><br />
448. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Among the Nations at Yad Vashem</span></td></tr>
449. </tbody></table>
450. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
451. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Sisters Gisela Feldman and Sonja Sternberg, 93 and 90 years old
452. respectively from Manchester, UK, were both young girls when they boarded the <i>SS
453. St. Louis</i> with their mother. Sonja will never forget the moment the ship was
454. forced to turn around and head back to Germany, and how difficult this was for
455. her mother. They remember parting from several of their family members in
456. Berlin who they never saw again. "We were very lucky to have gotten out,"
457. recalled Sonja, now 90. "We lost our father and 31 other close family
458. members." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
459. <br />
460. <br />
461. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
462. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFipLWfJ6mczrHS3aQaJxItHgOB_F1UlExUDjJzXCpllHrDLYBxbdi1B1D-LgFPWPcPBafhEI-veliLN84aTzzgs3SzhyphenhyphenpvW3b0-8tOrp72KwR5PXKBVNpwJezBlMwd0RTLz8iRty_auI/s1600/DSC_0164.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFipLWfJ6mczrHS3aQaJxItHgOB_F1UlExUDjJzXCpllHrDLYBxbdi1B1D-LgFPWPcPBafhEI-veliLN84aTzzgs3SzhyphenhyphenpvW3b0-8tOrp72KwR5PXKBVNpwJezBlMwd0RTLz8iRty_auI/s320/DSC_0164.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
463. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Survivors of the SS St. Louis with their family members in the</span><br />
464. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem</span></td></tr>
465. </tbody></table>
466. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Today the surviving passengers of the <i>SS St. Louis</i> dedicate
467. themselves to ensuring that the world knows the story of the doomed voyage, and
468. of the horrors of the Holocaust. With this in mind, they organized and produced
469. a documentary film, which has been entered into several international film
470. festivals. <o:p></o:p></span>
471.  
472. <br />
473. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
474. </div>
475. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
476. </div>
477. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
478. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">For more information about the <i>SS St. Louis</i> please visit the Yad
479. Vashem website.<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
480. <br />
481. <div style="mso-element: comment-list;">
482. <!--[if !supportAnnotations]-->
483.  
484. <br />
485. <hr align="left" class="msocomoff" size="1" width="33%" />
486. <!--[endif]-->
487.  
488. <br />
489. <div style="mso-element: comment;">
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491.  
492. <br />
493. <div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_1" language="JavaScript">
494. <!--[endif]--><span style="mso-comment-author: "גולדשטיין לאה";"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_msocom_1"></a><!--[endif]--></span>
495.  
496. <br />
497. <div class="MsoCommentText" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
498. </div>
499. <!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><br /></div>
500. <!--[endif]--><br /></div>
501. </div>
502. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/11/journey-of-doomed-revisited.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirINw5aGM1uV8ECI60419ciLxGjeBo-qZ0WKtSrw_hRM2zCpa-Z81_ruPwu7-aqyclRya-87MnIYU55qL4YKdpzxfLAls2KEQ667GvtYHFtooAFG9KhD5NWVG-QfQsSP16lQe_lNqhDoo/s72-c/2656_33.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-755957056160177077</guid><pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2016 11:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-09-15T14:13:08.210+03:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;
503. <b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">"Keeping the Memory Alive"</span></b></div>
504. <div class="MsoNormal">
505. <i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
506. year's Yad Vashem Leadership Mission was comprised of Second Generation
507. supporters, as well as a significant number of members of the next generations.
508. On their return home, Yad Vashem sought to understand the motivation of the
509. younger participants for joining the Mission, as well as their reflections and
510. plans in its wake:</span></i></div>
511. <div class="MsoNormal">
512. <i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
513. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
514. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWYOwB5SOMe9T3x7n7zT2IdH6pFY0QLky9AELdCtT6dPAAHFvZaEbHvObDkIwXQMcY1uBYRHrGsx5jOqu3l3C56NLSQMYaexVhyphenhyphen5eJzbOiiyNHE4eKhXUmpMD4qgRmETHVgKGr3svNDpk/s1600/DSC_6706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWYOwB5SOMe9T3x7n7zT2IdH6pFY0QLky9AELdCtT6dPAAHFvZaEbHvObDkIwXQMcY1uBYRHrGsx5jOqu3l3C56NLSQMYaexVhyphenhyphen5eJzbOiiyNHE4eKhXUmpMD4qgRmETHVgKGr3svNDpk/s640/DSC_6706.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
515. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yad Vashem Leadership Mission participants at a reception held at the President's Residence in Jerusalem. (July 2016) </td></tr>
516. </tbody></table>
517. <div class="MsoNormal">
518. <b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">■</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Harrison
519. Wilf</span></b></div>
520. <div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
521. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"Growing
522. up, I was always aware of how my family had been tragically affected by the
523. Holocaust; both how they suffered and how those who survived carried tremendous
524. burdens. I was eager to see with my own eyes the country where my relatives
525. once lived, the town squares they once walked through and the shuls they once
526. prayed in. Protecting the legacy of the Holocaust has been a priority for my
527. family for three generations and that has been passed down to me. I was excited
528. to experience the journey from Poland to Israel for myself and feel a heightened
529. appreciation for the State of Israel after seeing what the Jewish people had
530. been through.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
531. <div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
532. <br /></div>
533. <div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
534. <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">"I
535. have always thought of Yad Vashem as a very special museum because it is in
536. Jerusalem, in Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people. However, it is not
537. just a powerful museum; it is an entire institution that is keeping the legacy
538. of the Holocaust alive.</span></div>
539. <div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
540. <br /></div>
541. <div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
542. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"I
543. fully expect to become more involved in future activities of Yad Vashem. Soon the
544. survivors won’t be here to tell their stories, and if even one person forgets
545. to tell his children about the Shoah then that entire family will not
546. commemorate and learn from the Holocaust."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
547. <div class="MsoNormal">
548. <br /></div>
549. <div class="MsoNormal">
550. <b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">■</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Jonah Burian</span></b></div>
551. <div class="MsoNormal">
552. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"From a young age, I have heard
553. countless stories from my grandfather about his experience in the Holocaust. I
554. always connected to it, but never before like this. Seeing the infamous
555. Auschwitz in person made the stories much more tangible, and yet, in a
556. juxtaposed manner, the atrocities seem even harder to comprehend. There
557. was one thought that pierced through my shocked mind. My grandfather and I both
558. went through the same entrance, he suffered and I toured, but we both left as
559. witnesses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
560. <div class="MsoNormal">
561. <br /></div>
562. <div class="MsoNormal">
563. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The actual program itself was
564. more or less what I expected. However, the group dynamic unexpectedly added a
565. deeper level to the mission. The participants came from all over the world,
566. varied in religious orientation and with unique personalities. This diversity
567. bonded the group in a way that allowed for people not only to connect to the
568. Holocaust through personal and familial experiences, but also to connect
569. through the trip's experiences. Furthermore, although I was the youngest member
570. on the mission (16), I was treated no differently than anyone else. This
571. allowed me to participate in ways I also did not expect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
572. <div class="MsoNormal">
573. <br /></div>
574. <div class="MsoNormal">
575. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I believe it was Aldous
576. Huxley, the author <i>of Brave New World</i>, who said, 'That men do not learn
577. very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons
578. that history has to teach.' As a member of the third generation, the generation
579. that is tasked with continuing the memory of the Holocaust, I hope and believe
580. that we can change that."  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
581. <div class="MsoNormal">
582. <br /></div>
583. <div class="MsoNormal">
584. <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">■</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> Daniella Pomeranc</span></b></div>
585. <div class="MsoNormal">
586. <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">"Although I did not partake in the entire Mission, I was
587. lucky to join up with the group at Yad Vashem for the day. My involvement with
588. Yad Vashem has only gotten stronger and more rewarding over the years. Being
589. the grandchild of two survivors, I obviously want to continue to make that
590. connection stronger and keep their stories alive for generations to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
591. <div class="MsoNormal">
592. <br /></div>
593. <div class="MsoNormal">
594. <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">"It was so extraordinary to see the preservation process and
595. how pictures and information are scanned into Yad Vashem's databases. Yad
596. Vashem continues to give back to so many people's lives, helping them discover
597. their family's history. I am always so taken aback how different each
598. experience is there. There is really so much to see and learn and feel. I am so
599. thankful for every opportunity to reestablish my connection." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
600. <div class="MsoNormal">
601. <br /></div>
602. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
603. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">■</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Shira
604. Stein</span></b></div>
605. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
606. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">"Fortunately,
607. my family was not directly affected by the atrocities of the Holocaust; however,
608. I am a parent of three daughters and know that it is my responsibility to share
609. with them the importance of keeping the memories alive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
610. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
611. <br /></div>
612. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
613. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">"I
614. joined the Mission with the expectation of learning and growing. I was not
615. expecting the amazing personal connections I made with others on the trip. I
616. fostered lifelong friendships with others who are passionate about Holocaust
617. education. Additionally, I was utterly impressed by the attention to detail at
618. each ceremony, event and seminar that took place. The guides were above and
619. beyond knowledgeable and personable. The ceremonies that took place were moving
620. and every person on the Mission had an active role. I was asked to do a reading
621. at a ceremony in Poland. I read a personal narrative about <i>Kristallnacht</i>.
622. I was moved when I learned that the passage that I read was actually the
623. narrative of the mother of [International Relations Division Managing Director]
624. Shaya Ben Yehuda. This is an example of what made the Mission so personal and
625. moving. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
626. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
627. <br /></div>
628. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
629. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">"I also
630. saw some of the behind-the-scenes work that takes place at Yad Vashem. The
631. staff is so passionate about what they do. It was enlightening to see the work
632. that goes into identifying and placing a name or date to each artifact. The
633. care and expertise that I saw being used to treat a wartime journal that had
634. tremendous water damage made me feel extremely proud of the work being done at
635. Yad Vashem."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
636. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
637. <br /></div>
638. <div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
639. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">■</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Rachel Shnay</span></b></div>
640. <div class="Body">
641. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">"I have been involved with the Yad Vashem Young Leaders for many
642. years and am very passionate about Holocaust education and awareness. The
643. victims, survivors and their families are forever grateful for the everlasting
644. flame that Yad Vashem has lit for generations to come, and this trip solidified
645. the fact that it is up to us to keep that flame alive.</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
646. <div class="Body">
647. <br /></div>
648. <div class="Body">
649. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">"I gained so much insight into the Shoah, especially at Wolfsberg,
650. a place I had never been or even heard of before the trip. I was in complete
651. awe to learn about an underground camp and the extreme physical conditions they
652. endured. One of the highlights of the trip was hearing Rabbi Lau speak for
653. almost two hours at the conclusion of Shabbat. The entire room was mesmerized
654. by his stories. Another incredible and chilling experience was when we entered
655. the medical examiners' bunk. The women left eerie drawings on the walls that brought
656. the situation to life and I was immediately taken back in time, hearing screams
657. and cries along the corridor. I will forever remember those few minutes in that
658. bunk. </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
659. <div class="Body">
660. <br /></div>
661. <div class="Body">
662. <span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">"</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I also had no
663. idea how complex is the 'underground' work being done at Yad Vashem every
664. single day. From archiving to preserving to the Names Database to control against
665. hackers – it was absolutely incredible. I always visited Yad Vashem as a museum-goer
666. and now I can proudly tell others that there is so much more to Yad Vashem."
667. </span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
668. <div class="Body">
669. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
670. <div class="MsoNormal">
671. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">■</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
672. <b>Sam Gordon<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
673. <div class="MsoNormal">
674. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"My maternal grandparents are
675. both survivors. I needed to see for myself what happened during the Holocaust
676. to educate myself and others back home so that the memory never leaves our
677. minds, and more importantly, is passed on to future generations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
678. <div class="MsoNormal">
679. <br /></div>
680. <div class="MsoNormal">
681. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Perhaps naively, I always
682. thought prewar Europe was this depressing cemetery of a place.  But I was wrong. Jews had lives no different
683. than me. They had nice homes, schools, went to dinners, parties, etc. Some of
684. them knew the good life. Everything they had was taken in cold blood. To see
685. how Jewish life thrived before the war, and to see what happened during the
686. Holocaust was an eye-opening experience. 
687. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
688. <div class="MsoNormal">
689. <br /></div>
690. <div class="MsoNormal">
691. <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The trip changed my life. It
692. changed my point of view on almost everything. I also feel like I became more
693. of a Jew. I plan to remain involved in Yad Vashem going forward in perpetuity."  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
694. <br />
695. <div class="MsoNormal">
696. <br /></div>
697. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/09/keeping-memory-alive-thisyears-yad.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWYOwB5SOMe9T3x7n7zT2IdH6pFY0QLky9AELdCtT6dPAAHFvZaEbHvObDkIwXQMcY1uBYRHrGsx5jOqu3l3C56NLSQMYaexVhyphenhyphen5eJzbOiiyNHE4eKhXUmpMD4qgRmETHVgKGr3svNDpk/s72-c/DSC_6706.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-5363782760192444969</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Jul 2016 15:02:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-07-14T23:25:39.094+03:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
698. <b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Yad Vashem
699. International Leadership Mission<span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
700. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
701. <b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></div>
702. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
703. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Mark Moskowitz is
704. the son of Holocaust survivors and a longstanding friend of Yad Vashem. Mark is
705. actively involved in various Yad Vashem activities and events in Israel and the
706. United States. He was a participant of this year's <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/friends/index.asp">Yad Vashem Leadership
707. Mission</a>, traveling to Poland to view the lost Jewish world, and Israel, to
708. learn more about Yad Vashem's day-to-day activities, achievements and
709. challenges. He made the following address to the Mission at its Closing Event
710. on 12 July 2016, in Yad Vashem's Valley of the Communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
711. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
712. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgvcXdrwBmYCxD_tA9FFJJgHk7RrXOnuNv-Dv0E9naerYfRLolZW4DB4wEIvdSNUnCIoUD-qY2tkQvXPoDQ9VFZAzQzSKn2Xuuuh6gVkrl6mpAxE40-vAvV4cO8jCXzk05O7orplHFTg/s1600/IMG_6841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgvcXdrwBmYCxD_tA9FFJJgHk7RrXOnuNv-Dv0E9naerYfRLolZW4DB4wEIvdSNUnCIoUD-qY2tkQvXPoDQ9VFZAzQzSKn2Xuuuh6gVkrl6mpAxE40-vAvV4cO8jCXzk05O7orplHFTg/s320/IMG_6841.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
713. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Moskowitz delivering his address in the <br />
714. <div style="text-align: left;">
715. <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Valley of the Communities at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem</span></div>
716. </td></tr>
717. </tbody></table>
718. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
719. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
720. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
721. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">"I was
722. raised in a family of Holocaust survivors. Growing up with an acute awareness
723. of their strength of character and zest for life has impacted my decisions and who
724. I am today. Survivors have imbued in us, the Second and Third Generations, a
725. sense of infinite hope and determination, and a commitment to helping others
726. achieve happy and healthy lives. My late father’s unwavering spirit and
727. commitment to <i>tzedakah </i>(charity) helped him overcome unspeakable
728. tragedies and create a truly significant life for himself, his family and his
729. community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
730. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
731. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
732. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
733. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">While my beloved
734. parents, Rose and Henry, restarted their lives in the United States, their
735. passionate connection to Israel was always, and continues to be, a source of
736. strength. Each year, attending the official Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony
737. at Yad Vashem plays an integral role in my life. This day always occurs one
738. week before Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and
739. victims of terror, and it is a great privilege to observe it here in Israel.
740. Together, these two memorial days intensify the historic bond between Israel
741. and Jews worldwide. It is on these days that we recognize the bravery and
742. sacrifice of Holocaust victims and survivors, and the bravery and sacrifice of the
743. strong young men and women not so different from those we met last night [at an
744. army base].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
745. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
746. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
747. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
748. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">In one moment,
749. however, in the exact moment between light and dark, day shifts to night and
750. mourning turns to celebration. Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, erupts
751. from the darkness of Yom Hazikaron, and this sharp contrast puts into
752. perspective the sacrifice of so many and the inexpressible gratitude we have
753. for them. This juxtaposition is so powerful and so reminiscent of the
754. remarkable journey we have just experienced together, an extraordinary journey
755. from darkness to light, from experiencing the incredible, overwhelming sadness found
756. in destruction to the exuberance and optimism of rebirth and renewal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
757. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
758. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
759. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
760. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1w1xDX4Cb6-kGFyPwKWCRIRoH0yy6Zqf1ep5eNLsZX-lnq5nYbQRD4seG-FKpzvR6hRrASd_v2sAH0xNyflUwm_JJu3wiMvPRc4PmjBPNm6ovOVTSt1YgkVUfgcObjFKoWbnvmXcx4o/s1600/IMG_5813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii1w1xDX4Cb6-kGFyPwKWCRIRoH0yy6Zqf1ep5eNLsZX-lnq5nYbQRD4seG-FKpzvR6hRrASd_v2sAH0xNyflUwm_JJu3wiMvPRc4PmjBPNm6ovOVTSt1YgkVUfgcObjFKoWbnvmXcx4o/s320/IMG_5813.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
761. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev together with<br />
762. Chairman of the American Society for Yad Vashem presented<br />
763. President Rivlin with a facsimile of the Wolfsberg Machzor</td></tr>
764. </tbody></table>
765. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
766. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">In Wroclaw, we
767. learned about the diversity and richness of Jewish life before the war. The
768. diversity of faith and practice, arts and culture, a vitality that was dulled
769. by the poisonous antisemitism and hatred. Most poignantly noted to me by a
770. fellow participant was the realization that the lives destroyed were those of
771. people like you and me, people with families and professions, hopes and dreams.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
772. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
773. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
774. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
775. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">This Leadership
776. Mission has connected us. It has connected us to our past, to our heritage, to
777. Yad Vashem and to one another. The uniqueness of this Mission has been in the
778. camaraderie we have developed and the <i>mishpacha</i> (family) we have created
779. together – regardless of our personal connections (or lack thereof) to the
780. Holocaust, our backgrounds, our age, or even our faiths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
781. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
782. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
783. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
784. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Through this
785. Mission, Yad Vashem has facilitated a connecting of dots – gathering pieces of
786. our histories and heritage to complete a harmonious picture, connecting the
787. past with the present, on both individual and national levels.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> Yad Vashem is determined to document the
788. identity and restore the humanity of each of the victims and survivors, by
789. connecting fragments of information from its repositories of documents,
790. photographs, artifacts and testimonies. For example, like trained detectives,
791. the archivists were able to attach a name, history, face, and life story to a
792. six digit number present on a mass gravestone at Bergen Belsen. And as Director
793. of the Archives Division Dr. Haim Gertner said, in an era when only the
794. documents remain to testify, who will be there to tell their story? It is our
795. duty to ensure that Yad Vashem will be there. It is our responsibility to the
796. future, to the Third and Fourth Generations and those to come, that Yad Vashem
797. remain to complete the picture, to tell the story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
798. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
799. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
800. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
801. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Yad Vashem has
802. been an inspiration to me and an unparalleled resource – not only of facts and
803. history, but also of emotional strength. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Here, I have gained a comprehensive lesson in humanity – whether
804. from Rabbi Lau and Yehuda Bacon reflecting on recovering the ability to cry
805. after the Holocaust, after their hearts were turned to stone, in essence
806. regaining their humanity; hearing from young Israeli soldiers about the value
807. of human life; or attending the moving Righteous Among the Nations ceremony
808. recognizing Jan Willem Kamphuis and his daughter Klaziena for their pure will
809. to save Jews during the Holocaust.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
810. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
811. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
812. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
813. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfYcTxy8G85Gfx8_dLTxARbO5AbHgf0xWuL67gMSNfgm8q90cYK0Dq5z9mpK-cRQ73AAOAPiqIDdUVv0RRQu0QBZv3m7t4-oAB-XTka8nrdegRy4ANMfkGWYkom44Shi8pKjzCa0AFOeQ/s1600/DSC_7180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfYcTxy8G85Gfx8_dLTxARbO5AbHgf0xWuL67gMSNfgm8q90cYK0Dq5z9mpK-cRQ73AAOAPiqIDdUVv0RRQu0QBZv3m7t4-oAB-XTka8nrdegRy4ANMfkGWYkom44Shi8pKjzCa0AFOeQ/s320/DSC_7180.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
814. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Participants of the Yad Vashem Leadership Mission received a<br />
815. '<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Behind the Scenes' look at Yad Vashem's artifacts with </span><br />
816. <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Michael Tal of the Museums Division</span></td></tr>
817. </tbody></table>
818. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
819. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">A highlight of
820. this Mission for me has been the presence of so many from the Third Generation,
821. and being witness to their growing passion for, interest in and commitment to
822. Holocaust remembrance and Jewish continuity – a spark that has been ignited
823. this week here at Yad Vashem. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">On
824. a personal level, that my nephew Sam joined me on this journey has been so
825. meaningful and such a tangible representation of the continued generational
826. support of Holocaust remembrance through Yad Vashem.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
827. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
828. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"></span><br />
829. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
830. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
831. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Our Leadership Mission has given us the
832. opportunity to appreciate the myriad of resources Yad Vashem provides, and also
833. to consider the myriad of challenges that it faces going forward. Even the
834. frequent visitors among us were fascinated by the presentations by various department
835. heads on the careful, painstaking, deliberate and, what we can even describe as
836. “holy” work done on a daily basis. Here, meticulous care is being provided to
837. record, archive and index documents, artifacts and history. Innovative and
838. creative ways to teach current and future generations about the Shoah are being
839. developed for varying cultures and age groups in what I would refer to as the
840. Harvard of Holocaust Education, the International School for Holocaust Studies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
841. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
842. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
843. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
844. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Here, at Yad
845. Vashem, is where truth is displayed in its most terrible form, as well as in
846. its most hopeful. Here is where we can continue to connect the past with the
847. present and bear witness long into the future.  Collectively, we must
848. safeguard the memories and be the sentinels for these crucial vaults of
849. history, so that they are never forgotten and never repeated; and that others’
850. denials are recognized for what they are: abject dangerous falsehoods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
851. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
852. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFnfKQEiI-AsLPkyymZummSZ-fDhWldKjzyp8xpGiEmlKbYSkqQZiakRy0IuGn1MZRUSyy-vM0P5IQEGv9fqoekCUySrtPCyBEnMLPXsE5yvMOopLQ42HidDR1NY1iFbhyGVPf51ymUg/s1600/DSC_7024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFnfKQEiI-AsLPkyymZummSZ-fDhWldKjzyp8xpGiEmlKbYSkqQZiakRy0IuGn1MZRUSyy-vM0P5IQEGv9fqoekCUySrtPCyBEnMLPXsE5yvMOopLQ42HidDR1NY1iFbhyGVPf51ymUg/s320/DSC_7024.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
853. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A group of young participants in the Leadership <br />
854. Mission tour the Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem</td></tr>
855. </tbody></table>
856. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
857. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"></span><br />
858. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
859. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
860. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The profound
861. effect that Yad Vashem has had on me defies description. Actively participating
862. in supporting and maintaining the World Center of Holocaust Remembrance has
863. become a true “center” of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
864. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
865. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
866. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
867. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The journey we have taken over the last week has
868. been deeply moving and equally rewarding. On behalf of the Mission
869. participants, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Yad Vashem for organizing
870. such a vitally interesting, well-thought out and equally well-organized
871. program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
872. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
873. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
874. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
875. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Indeed, this Leadership
876. Mission has been a journey from darkness to light, from the chilly, foreboding
877. tunnels of Wolfsberg and the grounds of Auschwitz to the warm embrace in
878. Jerusalem by Yad Vashem, in the heart of the miraculous, reborn State of Israel.
879. We have witnessed the aftermath of destruction and we have seen good triumph
880. over evil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
881. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
882. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
883. <div style="text-align: left;">
884. </div>
885. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
886. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">I ask myself, as
887. the son of survivors: Who will tell their story in future generations? Who will
888. tell the stories of the victims, the heroes and the survivors? Who will
889. safeguard the firsthand testimonies and be able to maintain their authenticity
890. other than Yad Vashem? On behalf of the Second and Third Generations, our participation
891. in this Mission reaffirms our commitment to be the bearers of memory and to further
892. the legacy of the victims and survivors. I ask the Second and Third generation
893. members to join me in this effort, and be Yad Vashem’s partner for years to
894. come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
895. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
896. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
897. <br />
898. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
899. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">This Leadership
900. Mission has ignited a spark in us all, it has connected us to one another and
901. to Yad Vashem’s sacred efforts, and it will propel us further into our
902. commitment to carry the Torch of Remembrance far into the future."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
903. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
904. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
905. <br />
906. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
907. <i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">The Yad Vashem Leadership Mission included many of Yad Vashem's most influential friends from around the
908. world to explore prewar Jewish life in Europe, to reflect on the past, present
909. and future, and to connect to Yad Vashem as well as to one another.  While in Israel the</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> Mission was greeted by Israeli <b>President Reuven Rivlin</b>, met with senior </span></span></i><i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">staff members at Yad Vashem and
910. extensively toured the Yad Vashem campus.</span></i></div>
911. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/07/yad-vasheminternational-leadership.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgvcXdrwBmYCxD_tA9FFJJgHk7RrXOnuNv-Dv0E9naerYfRLolZW4DB4wEIvdSNUnCIoUD-qY2tkQvXPoDQ9VFZAzQzSKn2Xuuuh6gVkrl6mpAxE40-vAvV4cO8jCXzk05O7orplHFTg/s72-c/IMG_6841.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>3</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-155972899834469402</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2016 15:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-07-08T17:37:59.077+03:00</atom:updated><title>Yad Vashem Leadership Mission Kicks Off in Wroclaw, Poland</title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;
912. The Yad Vashem Leadership Mission began yesterday in Poland.
913. The Mission brings together Yad Vashem's friends and leaders from around the
914. world to explore prewar Jewish life in Europe, reflect on the past, present and
915. future, and connect to one another and to Yad Vashem.<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
916. <div class="MsoNormal">
917. <br /></div>
918. <div class="MsoNormal">
919. In Poland, the Mission will travel through Wroclaw and the
920. Wolfsberg forced labor camp before spending a memorable Shabbat in Krakow with
921. Yad Vashem Chairman of the Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. After Shabbat, the
922. Mission will travel to Israel and begin a comprehensive, behind-the-scenes
923. journey through Yad Vashem and their critical efforts made towards Holocaust
924. remembrance and education.<o:p></o:p></div>
925. <div class="MsoNormal">
926. <br /></div>
927. <div class="MsoNormal">
928. A longstanding, dear friend of Yad Vashem, Benjamin Warren,
929. delivered the opening address for the Mission in Wroclaw, Poland. At this
930. event, the Mission was greeted by the head of the Jewish community of Wroclaw,
931. Mr. Alexander Gleichgeurchet.<o:p></o:p></div>
932. <div class="MsoNormal">
933. <br /></div>
934. <div class="MsoNormal">
935. The following were Mr. Warren's remarks at the opening event of the Yad Vashem Leadership Mission.  <o:p></o:p></div>
936. <div class="MsoNormal">
937. <br /></div>
938. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
939. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdRngI5gWPYspOC1gBYEUgdoBdPj1luDqk3KZBkQ6CAvH9qG73pgpy9vu_g3NYcuEmlmarLzrKa-yNa6XNrE47T97e7ZOalP3q_frzQ4-u1yKCTQv5qttB1teX_pIskUrXnUtqeKo4cM/s1600/Benjamin+Warren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdRngI5gWPYspOC1gBYEUgdoBdPj1luDqk3KZBkQ6CAvH9qG73pgpy9vu_g3NYcuEmlmarLzrKa-yNa6XNrE47T97e7ZOalP3q_frzQ4-u1yKCTQv5qttB1teX_pIskUrXnUtqeKo4cM/s320/Benjamin+Warren.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
940. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Benjamin Warren speaking at in Wroclaw, Poland</i></td></tr>
941. </tbody></table>
942. <div class="MsoNormal">
943. "On behalf of the participants of this journey, I would
944. like to share with you my story, my connection to the Holocaust and the
945. importance of Holocaust remembrance, which of course underscores the spark that
946. causes each and every one of us to be here today.<o:p></o:p></div>
947. <div class="MsoNormal">
948. <br /></div>
949. <div class="MsoNormal">
950. Let me start by introducing myself to you. I come from
951. Houston, Texas. I'm the son of two Holocaust survivors: Martin Warren, who grew
952. up and was educated in Warsaw, was arrested and sent to Auschwitz and then to
953. Buchenwald from which he was liberated in April 1945 by the United States Army.
954. This is the same camp that Prof. Elie Wiesel, of blessed memory, was liberated from
955. at the same time.<o:p></o:p></div>
956. <div class="MsoNormal">
957. <br /></div>
958. <div class="MsoNormal">
959. My mother, Naomi Warren, an extraordinary woman, who at the
960. age of 95 continues to exhibit a zest for life in spite of a very difficult
961. past, which took her from her home in Wolkowysk, Poland to Auschwitz, where her
962. mother and first husband perished, then on the death march following the
963. approach of the Russian Army to a women's camp Ravensbruk, that dark place
964. where the Nazi's experimented on women in ghastly ways, then to Bergen Belsen
965. from where she was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945.<o:p></o:p></div>
966. <div class="MsoNormal">
967. <br /></div>
968. <div class="MsoNormal">
969. As a child growing up in Houston, Texas with two sisters, I
970. wasn't aware of our parents’ very difficult past until I was a young adult. No
971. doubt like many of you, my parents, whether the result of wanting to put their
972. painful past behind them, or more likely the result of wanting to shelter, to
973. protect their children from this horrific experience, to avoid  wounding
974. them, to avoid making them feel different from their friends whose parents were
975. fortunate enough to miss this horror. <o:p></o:p></div>
976. <div class="MsoNormal">
977. <br /></div>
978. <div class="MsoNormal">
979. Today much of my life revolves around a variety of
980. activities targeted towards making the world a better place. None however is
981. more important, as much a part of my DNA, than my commitment to carrying the
982. "Torch of Remembrance" to honor my parents, to remember those who
983. perished and also those who survived, whether it's through my deep commitment
984. to Yad Vashem and its mission, or my deep passion to furthering Holocaust
985. education at the Holocaust Museum Houston through the Warren Fellowship for
986. Future Teachers.<o:p></o:p></div>
987. <div class="MsoNormal">
988. <br /></div>
989. <div class="MsoNormal">
990. As the window closes on those brave and strong souls who
991. survived, it becomes increasingly critical that those who follow carry on the
992. responsibility of carrying the "Torch of Remembrance," which after
993. all is the solemn purpose and goal of Yad Vashem. It's this responsibility,
994. which I know each of you here today embraces, a privilege in the name of those
995. who perished and those who survived, that I hope each of us further commits
996. themselves to with this journey.<o:p></o:p></div>
997. <div class="MsoNormal">
998. <br /></div>
999. <div class="MsoNormal">
1000. My personal story and connection to Yad Vashem, the World
1001. Holocaust Remembrance Center, takes me back to the year 2000, when our family
1002. made a journey to Israel and to Yad Vashem. When we visited the Archives at Yad
1003. Vashem and sought to take a look into the lost community that our mother came
1004. from, from Wolkowysk, we found a book, "The Miracles of Tyranny" that
1005. chronicled the life of Mom's first husband, Alexander Rosenbaum, along with her
1006. brother in Auschwitz, including numerous references to her time sorting bundles
1007. in the "Canada" unit, which was a much sought after job for
1008. prisoners.<o:p></o:p></div>
1009. <div class="MsoNormal">
1010. <br /></div>
1011. <div class="MsoNormal">
1012. Fast forward to 2011, when my sister Geri and I made a journey
1013. to Germany with our cousin Elsa Spizdbaum Ross, to follow the tracks of her
1014. father whose whereabouts and fate ceased when he was arrested in Warsaw by the
1015. Nazis. <o:p></o:p></div>
1016. <div class="MsoNormal">
1017. <br /></div>
1018. <div class="MsoNormal">
1019. Elsa never knew what happened to her father, who owned a
1020. very successful chocolate factory in Warsaw, until Yad Vashem and my dear
1021. friend Shaya Ben Yehuda took it on himself with the support of Yad Vashem's
1022. research team to search the records of Yad Vashem and those of the Bad Arolsen
1023. International Tracing Service of the Red Cross to see what they could learn
1024. about her father's past. What they uncovered was extraordinary. Including a
1025. trail that followed his arrest in Warsaw, an inventorying of his personal
1026. belongings, and a chronicle of his life as a slave laborer in an ammunition
1027. factory and internment camp outside of Warsaw. As the Russian Army approached,
1028. the story woven included a chronicle of the destruction of the munitions
1029. factory by the Nazis and the moving of the laborers to Buchenwald in advance of
1030. the opening of a new ammunition factory at a sub camp of Buchenwald named
1031. Schlieben. Unbelievably, the story continues with Elsa's father arriving in
1032. Schlieben and the tracking of his service in the munitions factory until he,
1033. along with 28 other prisoners, perished in an explosion at the factory. <o:p></o:p></div>
1034. <div class="MsoNormal">
1035. <br /></div>
1036. <div class="MsoNormal">
1037. But the story doesn't end there. Included in the Bad Arolsen
1038. records was a photograph of a mass grave with a monument listing the names of
1039. the 29 slave laborers who perished, including Elsa's father. You can imagine
1040. the emotion that followed as my cousin Elsa, my sister Geri, Shaya Ben Yehuda, a
1041. guide from Yad Vashem's German Desk, and I, said Kaddish for my cousin Elsa's
1042. father in the beautiful, well-manicured cemetery in Schlieben. <o:p></o:p></div>
1043. <div class="MsoNormal">
1044. <br /></div>
1045. <div class="MsoNormal">
1046. Now you can understand the closeness that I feel for Yad Vashem,
1047. for Shaya Ben Yehuda and his colleagues, who through their persistent diligence
1048. wove this incredible tapestry that chronicled the final chapter of my cousin
1049. Elsa’s father's life and allowed her the opportunity to bring closure to this
1050. haunting life experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
1051. <div class="MsoNormal">
1052. <br /></div>
1053. <div class="MsoNormal">
1054. This is but a single story that now is part of Yad Vashem's
1055. beacon of light, the burning "Torch of Remembrance." No doubt many of
1056. you have your own stories. Hopefully my story underscores the critical
1057. importance of staying connected with Yad Vashem, of supporting its mission and
1058. its critical work, making possible the continued weaving of stories like Elsa's
1059. father for all generations of the future. <o:p></o:p></div>
1060. <div class="MsoNormal">
1061. <br /></div>
1062. <br />
1063. <div class="MsoNormal">
1064. To conclude, on behalf of our Leadership Mission
1065. participants and in advance of what will no doubt be a very emotional journey,
1066. I want to thank you Shaya, along with your extraordinary team, for weaving
1067. together the program ahead that will twine each of us to Yad Vashem and
1068. Holocaust remembrance forever. I also wish to welcome each of you who have
1069. traveled from Australia, from Canada, from Mexico, from the United States and
1070. from Israel for joining this journey and committing yourselves to adding to
1071. your knowledge of the Holocaust."<o:p></o:p></div>
1072. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/07/yad-vashem-leadership-mission-kicks-off.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdRngI5gWPYspOC1gBYEUgdoBdPj1luDqk3KZBkQ6CAvH9qG73pgpy9vu_g3NYcuEmlmarLzrKa-yNa6XNrE47T97e7ZOalP3q_frzQ4-u1yKCTQv5qttB1teX_pIskUrXnUtqeKo4cM/s72-c/Benjamin+Warren.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-2553799590739085215</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2016 15:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-07-08T09:59:44.567+03:00</atom:updated><title>Farwell to a dear friend and an exemplary son of the Jewish People</title><description>&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
1073. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTovZyvl_h78tglq5JX-nxnfeTEW9MTyRZd8tEK85f48UKY2pdB-tL_schCiHCRf-3Y4lWXO4uGY7RU-Cq7W-sEZTyZsVnH0ovA_RM4EkTTvvf7qBRIBKj692N4G4GioPqRCG76bIKA8/s1600/img750151.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTovZyvl_h78tglq5JX-nxnfeTEW9MTyRZd8tEK85f48UKY2pdB-tL_schCiHCRf-3Y4lWXO4uGY7RU-Cq7W-sEZTyZsVnH0ovA_RM4EkTTvvf7qBRIBKj692N4G4GioPqRCG76bIKA8/s320/img750151.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
1074. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Prof. Elie Wiesel touring Yad Vashem circa 1997</i></td></tr>
1075. </tbody></table>
1076. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1077. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20pt;">This week, we mourn the
1078. death of </span><a href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X617E97244CE1FA8DD62F480606393A2D4D1ADC42EE8E2199C24BB6DBD14C7186AF8B146C3D80265EB2AF37BAD2BC81E2ADF16D440E77F83EC69E7814F9BA07744F62D0DFC21EC5D3.htm" style="line-height: 20pt;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Elie Wiesel</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 20pt;">, <em>z"l</em>. His passing not only saddens and fills us with a
1079. sense of loss. It also constitutes a painful milestone in the gradual
1080. transition to an era and world lacking live personal Shoah testimony.</span></div>
1081. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1082. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
1083. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></div>
1084. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1085. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Elie was an exceptionally
1086. gifted witness of the Holocaust, remarkably articulating and communicating its
1087. haunting messages. An exemplary son of the Jewish people, he came to represent,
1088. embody and nurture its amazingly durable and resilient creative forces,
1089. following the Shoah. Despite the collapse of civilized morality that he
1090. witnessed and endured during the Holocaust, Elie believed, and inspired others
1091. to believe, that sincere human efforts to repair a broken world – can make a
1092. difference. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
1093. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1094. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
1095. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></div>
1096. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1097. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I think that it was the
1098. complementary contrasts that so characterized Elie - sadness and hope,
1099. desolation and renewal, Jewish and universal values - that helped forge his
1100. unique bond with us at Yad Vashem, to which he was deeply devoted and which he
1101. described as "the heart and soul of Jewish memory". Elie Wiesel
1102. identified intensely with Yad Vashem's commitment and ability to delve into the
1103. complex legacy of the Holocaust in order to offer empowering insights, and to
1104. convey them to a multitude of individuals and communities, both Jewish and
1105. non-Jewish.     <o:p></o:p></span></div>
1106. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1107. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
1108. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></div>
1109. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1110. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwydGzczTsBl6KoWH31BSFFrC2sefaryToQxD0EaPP_qoEtUxF5v2H40fGxgwtidvXq-d3wjGUQ1YoDLa1fptN5Hl5OQIrUFC5480I_DVp9REHh2vOXTM1TZf-TwAeuB6Sm1yl0l0_15I/s1600/Avner+with+Elie+Wiesel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwydGzczTsBl6KoWH31BSFFrC2sefaryToQxD0EaPP_qoEtUxF5v2H40fGxgwtidvXq-d3wjGUQ1YoDLa1fptN5Hl5OQIrUFC5480I_DVp9REHh2vOXTM1TZf-TwAeuB6Sm1yl0l0_15I/s320/Avner+with+Elie+Wiesel.jpg" width="161" /></a></td></tr>
1111. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Prof. Elie Wiesel with Avner Shalev at the Inauguration<br />Ceremony of the Holocaust History Museum, March 2005</i></td></tr>
1112. </tbody></table>
1113. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1114. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We shared a special kinship
1115. and bond.  When I first met Elie Wiesel,
1116. he told me something I will never forget. 
1117. He told me that he had waited several years before meeting with me, so
1118. that he could learn more about Lt. General David "Dado" Elazar, the IDF
1119. Chief of Staff from 1972 to 1974.  He
1120. wanted to learn more about Dado before meeting with me because I served as the
1121. head of his office during the Yom Kippur War. That was just the type of person
1122. he was; those were the details he was concerned with.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
1123. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1124. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
1125. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1126. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Personally, I have lost a
1127. friend. Though our youthful backgrounds were strikingly different, Elie and I
1128. found common cause in our shared conviction in the Jewish people's
1129. post-Holocaust continuity and future, in Judaism's ethical vision, and in our
1130. fervent love for the State of Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
1131. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1132. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
1133. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></div>
1134. <br />
1135. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
1136. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkEqd1VIDHseQ9zTsaKz44FTKkNKLtRlw250xdmQlNdLkui8vik4H_KDgO3ci5wjOyLkUwgbdCsuqpS8hYSadWjFSuXaSms6OHdmpBY9vS4pD9PHrErvg2EeQXXuFRqF8JYLZ-R_zI7Yo/s1600/img750069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkEqd1VIDHseQ9zTsaKz44FTKkNKLtRlw250xdmQlNdLkui8vik4H_KDgO3ci5wjOyLkUwgbdCsuqpS8hYSadWjFSuXaSms6OHdmpBY9vS4pD9PHrErvg2EeQXXuFRqF8JYLZ-R_zI7Yo/s320/img750069.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1137. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wiesel visiting the original Holocaust History Museum circa 1997</i></td></tr>
1138. </tbody></table>
1139. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1140. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Elie Wiesel believed to his
1141. dying day that the world must remember and relate to the legacy of the
1142. Holocaust as a unique Jewish event containing a universal human message. I know
1143. that he was encouraged that Yad Vashem is working to ensure the vibrancy and
1144. relevance of that legacy for generations to come.</span><br />
1145. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">
1146. May his memory be blessed.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
1147. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1148. <br /></div>
1149. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1150. <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"></span></span></div>
1151. <div style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1152. <i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></i></div>
1153. <div style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1154. <i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Since 1993, Avner Shalev has been Chairman of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. He established the Museums Complex, including the
1155. Holocaust History Museum, for which he serves as chief curator and founded Yad
1156. Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies.  He also serves as
1157. chief curator of Yad Vashem's permanent exhibition in the Auschwitz- Birkenau
1158. State Museum's Jewish Pavilion.</span></i></div>
1159. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1160. <o:p></o:p></div>
1161. <div dir="LTR" style="line-height: 20.0pt;">
1162. </div>
1163. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1164. <br /></div>
1165. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/07/farwell-to-dear-friend-and-exemplary.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTovZyvl_h78tglq5JX-nxnfeTEW9MTyRZd8tEK85f48UKY2pdB-tL_schCiHCRf-3Y4lWXO4uGY7RU-Cq7W-sEZTyZsVnH0ovA_RM4EkTTvvf7qBRIBKj692N4G4GioPqRCG76bIKA8/s72-c/img750151.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-3800865971538604644</guid><pubDate>Thu, 26 May 2016 12:16:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-05-26T15:16:11.670+03:00</atom:updated><title>Shoah Remembrance: A Personal Perspective </title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;
1166. By: <span lang="EN-IE">Sam Gelman</span><o:p></o:p></div>
1167. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1168. "Never forget"
1169. is a motto synonymous with Holocaust remembrance and education.  Time and again, we are reminded that we can
1170. never allow ourselves or the world to forget about the Holocaust and the six
1171. million Jews murdered by the German Nazis and their collaborators. We have
1172. heard numerous survivor testimonies, watched disturbing films, and seen heart-wrenching
1173. photos. Hundreds of books and research studies have been written on the subject
1174. with the express purpose of fulfilling this task.</div>
1175. <div class="MsoNormal">
1176. <o:p></o:p></div>
1177. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1178. With each passing day,
1179. however, this duty becomes more challenging. The last of the survivors are
1180. passing away, soon to leave no eyewitnesses to the atrocities. Holocaust denial
1181. and antisemitism are on the rise around the world. It is incumbent upon us to find
1182. ways to ensure that Holocaust commemoration remains relevant for future
1183. generations.  <o:p></o:p></div>
1184. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1185. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPD1rbvPD4MnDedNpVkegM-NNqUoDx5lwBCXkvQIyex_s7bQu1V6B6HN0VtC7BDzGeMrHtZUX_O_ClULHpK4mIEcV8atocTudhHTXrs82Z13YScSoZ-iyr7ao3SlyIbQycnikpUF9PXE/s1600/IMG_6003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPD1rbvPD4MnDedNpVkegM-NNqUoDx5lwBCXkvQIyex_s7bQu1V6B6HN0VtC7BDzGeMrHtZUX_O_ClULHpK4mIEcV8atocTudhHTXrs82Z13YScSoZ-iyr7ao3SlyIbQycnikpUF9PXE/s320/IMG_6003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1186. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sam Gelman at the Memorial to the Deportees, Yad Vashem </td></tr>
1187. </tbody></table>
1188. <div style="text-align: justify;">
1189. Last spring, I went on
1190. a trip to Poland with my Yeshiva. Before the trip began, I tried to prepare
1191. myself for the tidal wave of emotions I was about to experience. I thought
1192. about how I would react when I arrived at the death camps. Never did it occur
1193. to me that my most poignant moment would be on the first day of the trip at the
1194. Radegast train station, a small railway terminal, near Lodz Poland, from which
1195. Jews were taken to the extermination camps. The station now serves as a
1196. memorial and small museum, and houses a few cattle cars that were once used to
1197. transport the Jews. On one of these cattle cars that tourists are allowed to
1198. enter, there is a sign that states: “For security reasons, a maximum of 20
1199. persons are allowed to be in the railway car at one time.”</div>
1200. <div class="MsoNormal">
1201. <o:p></o:p></div>
1202. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1203. To me, this sign was
1204. heartbreaking. Just over 70 years ago, these same rail cars were packed with
1205. over 100 people each, and now this sign was telling me that I had to wait my
1206. turn because the car could not handle so many people. It reminded me that every
1207. aspect of the Holocaust was a nightmare, and that even those of us who have learned
1208. about this horror cannot truly comprehend what the victims endured. However, to
1209. a visitor not familiar with the Holocaust, the sign would be completely benign;
1210. of course no more than 20 people should go in the car at the same time! Not
1211. only would that be uncomfortable for the visitors, but the aging car could
1212. collapse and hurt someone. They would not be able to see the paradox within the
1213. sign. How could they? They were never exposed to it. </div>
1214. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1215. <o:p></o:p></div>
1216. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1217. This is why Yad Vashem
1218. is so important to me, and why I decided to volunteer here this year. Educating
1219. the public about the victims and horrors of the Holocaust is vital in helping
1220. people gain an understanding of the scope of the tragedy, as well as in preserving
1221. the memory of the calamity. Yad Vashem
1222. is at the forefront of this mission. As Elie Weisel said, “There are many other
1223. museums in the world, but the source is here at Yad Vashem. This is the heart
1224. and soul of Jewish memory.” As a Jew, I feel both obligated and honored to be
1225. able to help with this task. However, we are not
1226. alone. Every year, dignitaries and leaders from around the globe visit Yad Vashem
1227. to learn about the Holocaust and to pay their respects its victims. For some,
1228. it is the next step in their education regarding the Holocaust. For others, it
1229. is their first real exposure to this world-shattering event.</div>
1230. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1231. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoktHpXeYXZjWynqVprAVOAsP5GD1fpJeu24Qu6bWIo7kZn1e9rzj39snkr4i91y90rUyq04L5V_kOokL3TlE3JMn0e3MraUSWEzKHKmjIxeMkPwHWd8KiEwejZQBLwgmAWwYzEiKcYds/s1600/DSC_4109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoktHpXeYXZjWynqVprAVOAsP5GD1fpJeu24Qu6bWIo7kZn1e9rzj39snkr4i91y90rUyq04L5V_kOokL3TlE3JMn0e3MraUSWEzKHKmjIxeMkPwHWd8KiEwejZQBLwgmAWwYzEiKcYds/s320/DSC_4109.JPG" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
1232. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">                Sam Gelman at the Hall of Names, Yad Vashem</td></tr>
1233. </tbody></table>
1234. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1235. Recently, Texas Governor
1236. Greg Abbot visited Israel and prioritized a visit to Yad Vashem to honor the
1237. victims of the Holocaust. He is only one of a long list of leaders from every
1238. continent around the world that have visited Yad Vashem since it was founded in
1239. 1953, including the recent visits of US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor
1240. Angela Merkel, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.<o:p></o:p></div>
1241. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1242. As a student from
1243. Texas studying here in Israel, I was pleased to hear that Governor Abbot had visited
1244. Yad Vashem. With all that Israel has been through over the last few months, it
1245. is comforting to know that the Jewish state still has friends who are willing
1246. to come and honor the six million Jewish men, women and children who were
1247. brutally murdered during the Holocaust. </div>
1248. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1249. Regardless who the
1250. leader is or how many times they have been to Yad Vashem, each visit is
1251. monumentally significant. Each of its close to one million annual visitors sends
1252. a strong message to Holocaust deniers that this tragedy indeed took place, and that
1253. we will not stand silently by and let history be changed for a nefarious
1254. agenda. Yad Vashem is at the forefront raising Holocaust awareness in those
1255. countries where the public knows the least about it. Through its outstanding Museums Complex,
1256. world-class International School for Holocaust Studies, comprehensive and
1257. multilingual website, strong social media presence and range of traveling
1258. exhibitions, Yad Vashem is at the center of Holocaust commemoration,
1259. remembrance, documentation and education. However, our most important goal is to
1260. show that the world has not forgotten, and that our friends and allies across
1261. the globe are strengthening Shoah Remembrance day by day.</div>
1262. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1263. <o:p></o:p></div>
1264. <div class="MsoNormal">
1265. <span style="text-align: justify;">We must do everything
1266. we can to make sure the memory of the Holocaust remains solid, so people
1267. remember not only the 20-person cattle cars, but the millions of people who traveled
1268. in them as well.</span></div>
1269. <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1270. <o:p></o:p></div>
1271. <br />
1272. <div class="MsoNormal">
1273. <br /></div>
1274. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/05/shoah-remembrance-personal-perspective.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMPD1rbvPD4MnDedNpVkegM-NNqUoDx5lwBCXkvQIyex_s7bQu1V6B6HN0VtC7BDzGeMrHtZUX_O_ClULHpK4mIEcV8atocTudhHTXrs82Z13YScSoZ-iyr7ao3SlyIbQycnikpUF9PXE/s72-c/IMG_6003.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-7022828444453478447</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2016 13:49:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-05-09T16:49:19.171+03:00</atom:updated><title>Unto Every Person There is a Name: Remembering Ita Rochel Aronstein </title><description>
1275.  
1276. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kristine Johansson-Smith, the daughter of a Holocaust
1277. survivor from Riga, Latvia, grew up never knowing what her maternal grandmother,
1278. Ita Rochel Aronstein, looked like. Kristine's mother, </span>Ruta<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Johansson-Aronstein, born in 1936, was only five years
1279. old when the Nazis occupied Latvia. The young Ruta survived the war under the
1280. care of her stepmother, who was not Jewish, but her grandmother Ita was
1281. deported and never heard from again. </span></span><br />
1282. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1283. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></span> </div>
1284. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
1285. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9LtLL6ejxUqADe2dgrcGRsDwD1FsliJHna8HyDf-4sGfpxjk4L-PP4fZWPk5OWs3LNx2yAvcV96BPqr4MpF_0iFs7MLfOtEG2-W6ZkUx7GzZn0K04gBgo4Wnm415qJxTHcAAGqN9TaU/s1600/DSC_6572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9LtLL6ejxUqADe2dgrcGRsDwD1FsliJHna8HyDf-4sGfpxjk4L-PP4fZWPk5OWs3LNx2yAvcV96BPqr4MpF_0iFs7MLfOtEG2-W6ZkUx7GzZn0K04gBgo4Wnm415qJxTHcAAGqN9TaU/s320/DSC_6572.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1286. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kristine Johansson-Smith in the Hall of Remembrance </td></tr>
1287. </tbody></table>
1288. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1289. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"My mother survived the Shoah during the Nazi
1290. occupation of Latvia," Kristine related. "Her freedom was 'bought' from
1291. the Nazis during the war, while her mother – my grandmother – was deported
1292. and executed. According to my mother, my grandmother knew she was going die.
1293. She had given her blessing to my mother's wealthy stepmother who adopted and
1294. saved my mother." Kristine added, "All through my childhood in
1295. Sweden, I witnessed how much my mother missed her own mother, saying 'If I
1296. only had one photo of my mother,' 'I don't even  know where she is buried, where
1297. I can visit her.' 'One photo, if only I had one photo.'"</span></span> </div>
1298. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1299. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjguqLpq74OhJz2zPGIiaGpP_Bfv4krhqACxFUesFuPsVYYSbgwLDebD0-7Gu09YE-pCK7g4cKeYJ2OhIAjFtPeyM2Cz48ciO-G_Vepk1HG-LKuODe1bTGO5AV8DejHUIEOLxIL2YWub-g/s1600/Ida+%2528Ita+Rochel%2529+Arenstein_%25281920%2529-3+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjguqLpq74OhJz2zPGIiaGpP_Bfv4krhqACxFUesFuPsVYYSbgwLDebD0-7Gu09YE-pCK7g4cKeYJ2OhIAjFtPeyM2Cz48ciO-G_Vepk1HG-LKuODe1bTGO5AV8DejHUIEOLxIL2YWub-g/s320/Ida+%2528Ita+Rochel%2529+Arenstein_%25281920%2529-3+%25282%2529.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
1300. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ita-Rochel Aronstein</td></tr>
1301. </tbody></table>
1302. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1303. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Kristine relocated to Israel in January 2016. As part
1304. of her <i>aliyah</i> process, she contacted the Latvian State Historical
1305. Archive in search of documents to confirm her Jewish identity. In addition to
1306. the documentation she sought, Kristine was surprised to discover that the
1307. Archive contained a photograph of her grandmother. After contacting her mother
1308. and sending her a copy of the photograph, Kristine decided to commemorate her
1309. grandmother by registering her name with Yad Vashem. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
1310. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1311. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span> </div>
1312. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1313. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErlqwMHk0c-yhv82WOmAdGdASBEJBt4e1bhOzDRKzO3sZE60vSTPZv5eOkN3dvZ2SNtluJx2-RjPL6g0sBbm3XtEtLt_nUb0NUAI3E1S4DDgYILrrYwgIUvLP_O-MrcMO2Wd8aDKHmoY/s1600/13140538_10154793143122538_81207662_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErlqwMHk0c-yhv82WOmAdGdASBEJBt4e1bhOzDRKzO3sZE60vSTPZv5eOkN3dvZ2SNtluJx2-RjPL6g0sBbm3XtEtLt_nUb0NUAI3E1S4DDgYILrrYwgIUvLP_O-MrcMO2Wd8aDKHmoY/s320/13140538_10154793143122538_81207662_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
1314. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured with Cynthia Wroclawski, <br />
1315. Deputy Director Archives Division </td></tr>
1316. </tbody></table>
1317. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1318. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Kristine contacted Yad Vashem with the idea that it
1319. would be most befitting for her to complete the process of commemoration on
1320. Holocaust Remembrance Day. While Ita Rochel Aronstein's name does appear on Yad
1321. Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names, it is recorded as it appears
1322. in several archival sources documenting pre-war Jewish residents of Riga,
1323. Latvia only – as Rochel Jukowitsch nee Arenstein. </span></span></div>
1324. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1325. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
1326. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1327. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For this reason, the documents
1328. do not state the fate of the individual. With the goal of providing her
1329. grandmother with a personal commemoration and in order to attest to her murder,
1330. Kristine submitted a Page of Testimony for her grandmother, Ita Rochel Aronstein,
1331. along with the newly found photograph. Pages of Testimony are special forms
1332. created by Yad Vashem to restore the personal identities of each one of the six
1333. million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices. Submitted by
1334. survivors, family members or friends in commemoration of the Jewish men, women
1335. and children murdered in the Holocaust, these one-page forms, containing the
1336. names, brief biographical details and, when available, photographs of each
1337. individual victim, are essentially symbolic tombstones. To date the names of some
1338. 4.6 million Holocaust victims are recorded on Yad Vashem's online Names Database.
1339. </span></span></div>
1340. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1341. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
1342. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1343. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHI1HOran5aJNXjfuZn_1hTEDV0IyCn5CEi-QOS18YIaD8P2w2Fk3QVDYn0nawJ22-RWAKaWEH35LxUFjqsGDN_H4-jwqkcELUwk3_aqPkk9upPA48niudkinEyhbVBNqgDWaWtoPzIQ/s1600/ite+rochel+aronstein+jukowitch+screenshot+%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHI1HOran5aJNXjfuZn_1hTEDV0IyCn5CEi-QOS18YIaD8P2w2Fk3QVDYn0nawJ22-RWAKaWEH35LxUFjqsGDN_H4-jwqkcELUwk3_aqPkk9upPA48niudkinEyhbVBNqgDWaWtoPzIQ/s320/ite+rochel+aronstein+jukowitch+screenshot+%25282%2529.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1344. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entry in Names Database for Ita-Rochel Aronstein </td></tr>
1345. </tbody></table>
1346. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1347. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition, Kristine will also submit a Shoah
1348. Survivor Registration Form for her mother Ruta, documenting her
1349. experiences during the Holocaust and briefly recounting her life history in its
1350. aftermath. She also consulted with experts from the Yad Vashem Archives on the
1351. region of Latvia regarding the fate of her family during the Holocaust. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1352. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
1353.  
1354.  
1355. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After submitting the forms, Kristine took part in a
1356. moving ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, called "Unto Every Person
1357. There is a Name," wherein she publically read out her grandmother's name,
1358. granting her a sense of closure after so many years of doubt and heartache. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
1359.  
1360.  
1361. <br />
1362. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1363. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"Reading my grandmother's name in the Hall of
1364. Remembrance, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, was a deeply moving experience for
1365. me," recounted an emotional Kristine. "Finally she has a resting
1366. place, a place where she can be remembered by the whole world for generations
1367. to come. This is what my mother wanted for her all these years." Kristine
1368. hesitated, and added, "Wishes do come true. It may take your whole life. I
1369. believe this is one of the most beautiful miracles that has occurred since
1370. I landed in Israel."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1371. <br />
1372. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1373. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For assistance with submitting Pages of Testimony and
1374. for additional information, contact: The Shoah Victim's Names Recovery Project:
1375. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="mailto:names.proj@yadvashem.org.il">names.proj@yadvashem.org.il</a></span></span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="mailto:names.proj@yadvashem.org.il"> </a></span></i></b></div>
1376. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/05/unto-every-person-there-is-name.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9LtLL6ejxUqADe2dgrcGRsDwD1FsliJHna8HyDf-4sGfpxjk4L-PP4fZWPk5OWs3LNx2yAvcV96BPqr4MpF_0iFs7MLfOtEG2-W6ZkUx7GzZn0K04gBgo4Wnm415qJxTHcAAGqN9TaU/s72-c/DSC_6572.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-8610727519491403386</guid><pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2016 10:51:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-03-14T13:31:27.240+02:00</atom:updated><title>Connecting to my Jewish Roots</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
1377. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1378. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">By Alana Luttinger </span><br />
1379. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
1380. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">For the past four months I have
1381. been an intern at Yad Vashem in the International Relations Division. Before
1382. this internship, I had been to Yad Vashem twice: once with my family, and once
1383. with Birthright. During both of these trips, I only saw a small portion of what
1384. Yad Vashem had to offer. But throughout my internship here, I have learned how substantial
1385. the organization is, and I have had the opportunity to see so much of the vital
1386. work being done here. One aspect of my internship is to accompany special visitors
1387. to Yad Vashem, often to the Holocaust History Museum, but sometimes to places
1388. more "behind-the-scenes." Through these tours I have learned a great
1389. deal about the Shoah than I had previously learned in high school and
1390. grade school. Before my internship, I hadn’t known much other than that six
1391. million Jews were murdered. Since coming to Yad Vashem, I have learned more
1392. about the terrible suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust, but
1393. also about the occasional moments of light. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
1394. <br />
1395. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1396. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">One of these moments of light
1397. that I found a true connection with, and will remember for the rest of my life,
1398. is the story of Irena Sendler. Irena was a young non-Jewish woman who went
1399. against the norms of society and with the help of some friends was able to save
1400. around 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto. Even while in prison, Irena never
1401. gave the name of a single child she had saved. The tree that was planted in her
1402. honor at Yad Vashem in recognition of her as a Righteous Among Nations is
1403. located just before the entrance to the Holocaust History Museum, and visitors
1404. often begin their tour with her story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
1405. <br />
1406. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1407. <br />
1408. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1409. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5LmgVsMYULFdaJDygjIHQzp9CRcJ_czSG3oryVbtxHZ75_cMKVXY6qNFbATQB6CNM_QzbgCUHmDLTHzVMIpQc4j_ZKLI56FKsXlMHdYRW9u_FgGz25tgZ1VUfL68uZr0T9ccsFM_xns/s1600/DSC_5233..JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5LmgVsMYULFdaJDygjIHQzp9CRcJ_czSG3oryVbtxHZ75_cMKVXY6qNFbATQB6CNM_QzbgCUHmDLTHzVMIpQc4j_ZKLI56FKsXlMHdYRW9u_FgGz25tgZ1VUfL68uZr0T9ccsFM_xns/s320/DSC_5233..JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1410. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Alana standing next to Righteous Among the Nations, </span><br />
1411. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Irena Sendler tree</span></td></tr>
1412. </tbody></table>
1413. <br />
1414. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Since hearing Irena’s story, I
1415. have found myself striving to become a better person. As a young adult who has
1416. recently graduated college, I am struggling to become my own person, an
1417. individual among millions. Irena Sendler has become my role model, and someone
1418. I strive to emulate. While Yad Vashem honors many Righteous Among Nations each
1419. year, what makes Irena special to me is that when she was honored a number of
1420. years ago and when she stood up to speak at the ceremony, she apologized. She
1421. said she was sorry she hadn’t done more, sorry she had not saved more people.
1422. While six million Jewish people were murdered and millions did nothing, this
1423. one woman saved thousands. My hope is that one day instead of being a quiet
1424. girl who is afraid to speak her mind, I will become more like Irena, who knew
1425. that there was wrong in the world, and instead of being a passive observer took
1426. action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
1427. <br />
1428. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1429. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">While some people see the
1430. Holocaust as an event of the past, the antisemitism that fueled it is still
1431. very much a problem in the world today. So, no matter how irrelevant some see
1432. the Holocaust to be, from my time at Yad Vashem, I have found it to be quite
1433. the opposite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
1434. <br />
1435. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1436. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1437. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0w_IwVHs-o361iXMGcggl5fsX7eMT_MQ_zH7d9d_rhI4YOGqLQxO0k5FW4m6MeXAsgBbyWbTDZ761qC29uaelfG27L6DcYy2T6m4PMG9jEbCQCX-BlZf-F2jfax6FF3nnMgUGqf38g8/s1600/DSC_5186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0w_IwVHs-o361iXMGcggl5fsX7eMT_MQ_zH7d9d_rhI4YOGqLQxO0k5FW4m6MeXAsgBbyWbTDZ761qC29uaelfG27L6DcYy2T6m4PMG9jEbCQCX-BlZf-F2jfax6FF3nnMgUGqf38g8/s320/DSC_5186.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1438. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Alana in the Valley of the Communities, Yad Vashem</span></td></tr>
1439. </tbody></table>
1440. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Another consequence of my time at
1441. Yad Vashem is the deeper connection I built not only with the country of
1442. Israel, but also with my own personal identity. This self-awareness came mainly
1443. from research I did on my own family background. I knew that my great-grandparents
1444. came to the United States starting in the early 1900s through the 1920s, but I had
1445. never known anything about the members of their families who remained in
1446. Europe. From my research at Yad Vashem, I now know that a couple from each side
1447. of my family came from the same city, Czernowitz. Out of all four sets of
1448. grandparents, my maternal grandfather’s family lost the most family members
1449. during the Shoah. With the recent passing of my grandfather, I fear that the identities
1450. and stories of his six aunts, uncles and grandparents who did not leave Europe
1451. will be lost forever. Without their names I cannot even fill out Pages of
1452. Testimony for them. For some like my family, where nobody is left to remember
1453. the names of those murdered in the Holocaust, I have found a connection to the
1454. family I lost in the Valley of the Communities. The Valley of the Communities
1455. at Yad Vashem pays tribute to the many towns and cities that were destroyed
1456. during the Holocaust. From my grandmother, I have learned that my maternal
1457. family was from Czernowitz, Romania and Szeged, Hungary. Finding my family’s
1458. home towns engraved in the wall of the Valley, I have been able to honor and
1459. connect to the memory of all those lost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
1460. <br />
1461. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1462. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Due to this, I have come to
1463. realize how important Yad Vashem’s work is in gathering the names and stories
1464. of individual victims and survivors. Particularly important is the recording of
1465. survivor testimonies. Since my time at Yad Vashem, I have read and heard many
1466. such testimonies that must be recorded and passed down to future generations so
1467. people can never deny the horror of what happened to each and every one of the six
1468. million Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust<o:p></o:p></span></div>
1469. <br />
1470. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1471. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">For instance, during my
1472. internship at Yad Vashem, I had the privilege to hear the testimonies of Hannah
1473. Pick – Anne Frank's childhood friend – and Berthe Elzon, a volunteer at Yad
1474. Vashem. Both women have very different stories but both experienced extreme
1475. hardship and saw more death than any person should ever witness. I even had the
1476. opportunity to type up the story of one woman who only recently sent the story
1477. of her experiences in the Shoah to Yad Vashem. Each of these individual stories
1478. make up the mosaic of Jewish life - and suffering – that we know as the
1479. Holocaust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
1480. <br />
1481. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
1482. <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Learning about the survivors, my
1483. family, and incredible people such as Irena Sendler has made me feel closer to
1484. my Jewish heritage, and makes me want to live a full, positive and meaningful
1485. life to make up for the life denied to all of the men, women and children so
1486. cruelly persecuted and killed during the Shoah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
1487. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/03/connecting-to-my-jewish-roots.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5LmgVsMYULFdaJDygjIHQzp9CRcJ_czSG3oryVbtxHZ75_cMKVXY6qNFbATQB6CNM_QzbgCUHmDLTHzVMIpQc4j_ZKLI56FKsXlMHdYRW9u_FgGz25tgZ1VUfL68uZr0T9ccsFM_xns/s72-c/DSC_5233..JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-6342804335199354700</guid><pubDate>Sun, 21 Feb 2016 13:42:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-02-22T21:07:46.727+02:00</atom:updated><title>One of the Last Survivors of Treblinka Passes Away</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
1488. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1489. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVpeDIfb2wzREJ1d-AlpQzFvMrWWy16W1Mlb5yDchVYU7fiwfx-rcEuMlm-cci96eqdN8Lb4q3tDUXqAFdIf634DdoNPa-1eFTgV9n08pk5QWLWviVQ7djJyo4IU5777Rakg1yRP-QfI8/s1600/IMG_2453.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVpeDIfb2wzREJ1d-AlpQzFvMrWWy16W1Mlb5yDchVYU7fiwfx-rcEuMlm-cci96eqdN8Lb4q3tDUXqAFdIf634DdoNPa-1eFTgV9n08pk5QWLWviVQ7djJyo4IU5777Rakg1yRP-QfI8/s200/IMG_2453.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
1490. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samuel Willenberg</td></tr>
1491. </tbody></table>
1492. <strong>Yad Vashem mourns the loss of Samuel Willenberg,  one of the last survivors of the German Nazi death camp Treblinka, who passed away at the age of 93.  Willenberg, a renowned artist and author, escaped Treblinka during a revolt in August 1943. Together with other survivors, he became an outspoken eyewitness of the horrors that took place during the Holocaust.</strong><br />
1493. <strong></strong><br />
1494. <strong>As we move further away from events of WWII, surviving eye witnesses are sadly becoming fewer in number.  Nevertheless, the survivors' stories live on through testimonies, diaries, letters and other documenatation that can be found at Yad Vashem.</strong><br />
1495. <strong></strong><br />
1496. <strong>Below is an interview with Samuel and his wife Ada Willenberg with the Yad Vashem International School for Holocaust Studies from 2011.<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></strong><br />
1497. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
1498. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="background: white; direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 3pt; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1499. <span style="color: #006699; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">An Interview with Samuel and Ada
1500. Willenberg</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
1501. By Sheryl Ochayon<br />
1502. <br />
1503. My colleague Liz Elsby and I sat down to interview Samuel Willenberg on Sunday, December 4, 2011 in his apartment in Tel Aviv, Israel. His wife, Ada, herself a survivor of the <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206508.pdf">Warsaw Ghetto</a>, sat with us, plied us with tea and pastries, and added to our knowledge and to the discussion.<br />
1504. <br />
1505. Samuel was born in 1923 in Czestochowa, Poland. When the Germans invaded Poland he was 16 years old, but he enlisted in the Polish Army in order to fight against them and was wounded severely. His family moved to Opatow for a time. In the fall of 1941, while hiding from the Germans, his two sisters were arrested in Czestochowa. His parents managed to survive in Warsaw with false documents. Samuel himself was taken together with the Jews of Opatow to Treblinka, when the Opatow ghetto was liquidated. He spent about ten months at forced labor in the Treblinka death camp, and participated in the revolt there on August 2, 1943. Later, Samuel joined the Polish underground and took part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. For his bravery he was awarded the Virtuti Militari medal, the highest military commendation in Poland, and the Komandorski Order of Polonia Restituta. He made aliyah to Israel in 1950.<br />
1506. <br />
1507. <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205886.pdf">Treblinka</a> was the most lethal extermination camp of <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205724.pdf">Operation Reinhard</a>, where approximately 870,000 Jews were murdered during the thirteen months that the camp was in operation, from July, 1942 through August, 1943. Currently it is believed that there are only two survivors of Treblinka who remain alive in the world: Samuel and Kalman Taigman.<br />
1508. <br />
1509. Samuel has created a series of fifteen sculptures that are scenes from Treblinka. They have been displayed in Germany, in Poland and in Israel. <br />
1510. <br />
1511. <strong>Samuel, where did you learn to create art?</strong><br />
1512. <br />
1513. My father was an artist – I guess I have the genes.<br />
1514. <br />
1515. <strong>Did you draw when you were a child?</strong><br />
1516. <br />
1517. My father was a painter. My mother didn’t allow me to pick up a pencil - she didn’t want me to be a poor artist!<br />
1518. <br />
1519. <strong>So you never learned to draw? It came to you naturally?</strong><br />
1520. <br />
1521. Yes.<br />
1522. <br />
1523. <strong>In the camps, did you ever think about art?</strong><br />
1524. <br />
1525. No. In the extermination camps I didn’t think of art; the sculptures I did later, after the war.<br />
1526. <br />
1527. My artistry is my memory – my ability to remember what my eyes saw… I remember pictures. I see the pictures from “there”, even today.<br />
1528. <br />
1529. <strong>How did you start sculpting?</strong><br />
1530. <br />
1531. When I retired<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#01">[1]</a>, I took courses in art at a local university in Tel Aviv (“University Ammamit”) . I began with painting but I decided to sculpt.<br />
1532. <br />
1533. <strong>The sculptures that you sculpt, are they connected to what you experienced? Do they somehow “translate” pictures that you have in your head?</strong><br />
1534. <br />
1535. Yes! When you see my sculptures – you see Treblinka.<br />
1536. <br />
1537. <strong>When you do a sculpture, would you say that you sculpt more for the purpose of making art or for the purpose of documentation, in order to document what happened?</strong><br />
1538. <br />
1539. Definitely for purposes of documentation. The first sculpture I did was the “Scheissmeister”<a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#02">[2]</a>.<br />
1540. <br />
1541. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1542. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvWs6Zc_3kOpR18EfjUqYXk42S5VI99gKYdNdK-fA4yVbcY9GRyi0RLnH6j6z6RwhX6nRqhGlkfo4ngaS8cYi0R3zT9XQQtLYx97BU3m9lNx-B2NAnuTWdfE6wxmHT3gC2bhU2jL-7Y8/s1600/IMG_2447.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvWs6Zc_3kOpR18EfjUqYXk42S5VI99gKYdNdK-fA4yVbcY9GRyi0RLnH6j6z6RwhX6nRqhGlkfo4ngaS8cYi0R3zT9XQQtLYx97BU3m9lNx-B2NAnuTWdfE6wxmHT3gC2bhU2jL-7Y8/s320/IMG_2447.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
1543. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The<em> Scheissmeister (1999-2000)</em></td></tr>
1544. </tbody></table>
1545. <strong>Why was that the first?</strong><br />
1546. <br />
1547. Because it’s a symbol of German cynicism, a symbol of EVERYTHING. [Samuel says this through clenched teeth]. With the clothing of the hazzan<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#03">[3]</a>, with the clock, because of this I did it first…. He is screaming. He’s screaming to the heavens. But God is not there. There is no God.<br />
1548. <br />
1549. <strong>Which sculpture do you think is the strongest?</strong><br />
1550. <br />
1551. Everyone thinks a different sculpture is the best. My wife likes the sculpture of the father helping the son take off his shoes. This is what happened right before they went to the gas. This is what the whole history of the Shoah looks like.<br />
1552. <br />
1553. <strong>Can you tell us more about the sculpture of the little boy with the father helping him to take off his shoes?</strong><br />
1554. <br />
1555. <br />
1556. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1557. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcFDW56ndqya2BXyTkqMgTTcpKTYRlM_wc4zvL4GEu_ulayHvnfw1hliSVe05_yOvgwcTkrU8zJWvUVmeE89z2QYjaK5yM6OLOCHXsWAAnts0Ud0luk4g-ju76z5xe8jp8urbywuFESo/s1600/IMG_2440.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcFDW56ndqya2BXyTkqMgTTcpKTYRlM_wc4zvL4GEu_ulayHvnfw1hliSVe05_yOvgwcTkrU8zJWvUVmeE89z2QYjaK5yM6OLOCHXsWAAnts0Ud0luk4g-ju76z5xe8jp8urbywuFESo/s200/IMG_2440.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
1558. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Father helping his son take off his shoes<br />
1559. before entering the gas chambers at Treblinka<br />
1560. (2002), detail</td></tr>
1561. </tbody></table>
1562. Yes. You need to understand where this is happening - that it’s not just a father helping the boy off with his shoes at home – this is happening on the way to the gas chamber. That’s the explanation - it changes the whole meaning. The little boy is holding a string, because the “reds”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#04">[4]</a>, the people with the red armbands on the ramp<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#05">[5]</a>, gave strings to the people getting off the train and told them to tie their shoes together.<br />
1563. … This scene with the boy and the father - I saw this happen. I was next to them. I saw the people that this happened to. It happened near a barrack. I saw it happening! Others were taking off their shoes, but by themselves. And then afterwards, I saw the scene always before my eyes. I still see these things today.<br />
1564. <br />
1565. <strong>After you finish a sculpture, how do you feel?</strong><br />
1566. <br />
1567. After I finished the Scheissmeister, I felt like him – like the Scheissmeister. I relived the situation, I was part of him. That’s why he is screaming. <br />
1568. <br />
1569. <strong>How did you feel while working on a sculpture?</strong> <br />
1570. <br />
1571. When I was sculpting it was impossible to bother me, to talk to me, until I finished sculpting. I become the sculpture; I am inside it.<br />
1572. <br />
1573. Ada: When he sculpted, he was “inside” it; he was agitated.<br />
1574. <br />
1575. Samuel: But when I finished, I never felt relief. There is no relief! It never gets easier to bear. I only felt a kind of satisfaction.<br />
1576. <br />
1577. Every time I made a sculpture, I saw the scene – I lived it. The scene with the boy and the father - I saw this happen. And then afterwards, the scene was always before my eyes.<br />
1578. <br />
1579. <strong>So the sculptures tell your story instead of you?</strong><br />
1580. <br />
1581. Ada: Why instead of him? He tells his story, too – he has told it to groups in Treblinka more than 30 times. He talks to groups in Israel that come from all over the world.<br />
1582. <br />
1583. <strong>How long does it take you to do a sculpture?</strong><br />
1584. <strong></strong><br />
1585. Each is different, but all the sculptures of Treblinka I did in 3 years. I don’t make all the details exact.<br />
1586. <br />
1587. Do you still sculpt? No, there wasn’t anyone to sculpt for. The Israeli newspapers didn’t even cover the exhibitions. I had a well-publicized and well-reviewed exhibition in Warsaw, though. In my exhibition in Warsaw, the caretaker wrote beautifully about my sculptures that they were “grotesque” and showed “the most tragic moments of extreme horror”; she wrote, "The tormented figures of the camp are returning back to life." <br />
1588. <br />
1589. <strong>Did you ever sculpt anything that happened to you after Treblinka?</strong><br />
1590. <br />
1591. No, only Treblinka. Treblinka was the most…No, the rest is the history of Poland. <br />
1592. But I did create maps – actually drawings – of Treblinka. These were made on the basis of the measurements of the camp recorded in 1944 and published in 1946 in the first Bulletin of the Central Commision for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, a commission created after the war by the provisional Polish government to take evidence of the crimes. I created the drawings in 1981, when my book first came out. Many models of Treblinka have been made throughout the world on the basis of these renderings.<br />
1593. <br />
1594. <strong>Which sculpture was the most difficult for you to do because it involved the most painful incident for you?</strong><br />
1595. <br />
1596. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1597. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRvJLvWtR_jSwW7Y-ENb_CAWvdeo0gKdQHPMBxf4JFJ-RXKAcIp-6lH7aeJvXKj2ruY7mRMRwh2N8QHp4ZD6fpHdi1wU69Hn4XOcz3TrKW22eSefqdHb52l-XZUjbnu6KZl2R1lefnZU/s1600/IMG_2409.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmRvJLvWtR_jSwW7Y-ENb_CAWvdeo0gKdQHPMBxf4JFJ-RXKAcIp-6lH7aeJvXKj2ruY7mRMRwh2N8QHp4ZD6fpHdi1wU69Hn4XOcz3TrKW22eSefqdHb52l-XZUjbnu6KZl2R1lefnZU/s200/IMG_2409.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
1598. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samuel Willenberg with one of the maps<br />
1599.  he drew of Treblinka </td></tr>
1600. </tbody></table>
1601. <br />
1602. The most difficult sculpture to do was the sculpture that I didn’t do. It’s the sculpture of when I discovered the truth about my sisters<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#06">[6]</a>. I wasn’t able to make this sculpture. Not at all.<br />
1603. <br />
1604. Ada: He relives this incident all the time. On one hand, he is full of the joy of life. On the other hand, he still “sees” this all the time, he remembers.<br />
1605. <br />
1606. Samuel: I return to it every single day – I live it, even if I don’t want to, alongside my day-to-day life.<br />
1607. <br />
1608. <strong>What do you think of artists who make Holocaust art without having experienced the Holocaust?</strong><br />
1609. <br />
1610. This is normal – in every time, in every era there are artists who never see the incidents they represent in their art.<br />
1611. <br />
1612. <strong>Do you think there are any limits to Holocaust art?</strong><br />
1613. <br />
1614. It depends on the artist. It depends whether history accepts the art. It depends on the trends – you can’t know in advance. Look at expressionism – the colors they used. Cubism. It’s the same thing – it’s normal.<br />
1615. <br />
1616. <strong>There are sculptures with a lot of details, and there are those with less. Why is that?</strong><br />
1617. <br />
1618. I didn’t want to create naked women. But [in the sculpture of women on their way to the gas chambers, created in 2000] there are a lot of suitcases – because the Holocaust was not just murder, it was also robbery. And what a robbery!<br />
1619. <br />
1620. <strong>Which sculpture do you feel is the most important?</strong><br />
1621. <br />
1622. There are two: the first is the sculpture of the uprising itself. It shows the heroism of the Jews in trying to destroy Treblinka<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#07">[7]</a>. You know, rebelling in a death camp was a very difficult thing. It was not easy to organize an underground – many prisoners were strangers to each other, and each was afraid of the other because there were informers among the prisoners who might tell the Germans about any conspiracy to revolt. It was a different situation than the uprisings in the ghettos, where there were youth groups and everyone knew each other, relied on each other and trusted one another. In Treblinka it was dangerous to let people in on the secret of the underground because this invited betrayal. I wrote in my book about a prisoner called Kronenberg, a journalist who had worked for Chwila, a Polish-language daily Zionist newspaper published in Lwow. He was entrusted with the secret of the uprising. One day he was caught by the Nazis for not working, and was taken to the Lazarett. As soon as he realized he was about to be killed, he tried everything to save his life, including telling the Germans that there was an underground in the camp, and promising to tell them everything he knew about it if they would only let him live. <br />
1623. <br />
1624. <br />
1625. <br />
1626. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
1627. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53_oENC6WOSkQTr0oOYZNPZEvOpMoyCCruI1X9DedxZZ6QAo_uJu-8K-uwei0ch2FpQXKekcwCGWd3oI1pEhkurU_G96fXKY8jA8r_PO8QHCmJFMsOIjNp3MCXyLD05byNtKyoVy6E9E/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53_oENC6WOSkQTr0oOYZNPZEvOpMoyCCruI1X9DedxZZ6QAo_uJu-8K-uwei0ch2FpQXKekcwCGWd3oI1pEhkurU_G96fXKY8jA8r_PO8QHCmJFMsOIjNp3MCXyLD05byNtKyoVy6E9E/s400/a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
1628. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Treblina inmates' revolt, August 2, 1943 (2002-2003) </td></tr>
1629. </tbody></table>
1630. <div style="text-align: center;">
1631. </div>
1632. In the sculpture of the revolt you can see the young boys who removed grenades, pistols and other weapons from the Nazi’s storeroom. One of them is handing over a grenade that was hidden in a bucket used for potatoes. These weapons were delivered throughout the camp. You can also see the overturned baby carriage used by my best friend in the camp, Alfred Boehm, to collect garbage. Alfred was the liaison between the boys and the rest of the camp. He was killed in the gunfire during the uprising – I found him slumped next to his carriage. I am the man on the right, escaping with a gun in my hand. <br />
1633. <br />
1634. The sculpture of the escape is also important. It shows what happened when the prisoners in the camp tried to escape while trying to dodge gunfire from the Ukrainian guards in the watchtowers. The camp was surrounded by two rows of barbed wire, but also by anti-tank barriers. Many of the prisoners who tried to escape were killed while trying to climb over the wires, and in order to escape I actually had to climb over the bodies of my friends who were killed  there<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#08">[8]</a>. I was wounded in my foot during the escape.<br />
1635. <br />
1636. <strong>Can you tell us the story of Ruth Dorfmann?</strong><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#09"><strong>[</strong>9]</a><br />
1637. <br />
1638. I was not a frissiere (barber)<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#10">[10]</a>; there was a group of barbers but I was not one of them. Suddenly a big transport arrived, so Kiwe, the SS-man, grabbed some of us to help. I wore the white robe, and I had the scissors, in the “jupa” – the hut that the Germans built. I cut her hair cleanly, for a reason. I did more than I had to – I made it a clean haircut, because if I had just cut randomly here and there, they [the women] would have understood [that the haircut was not for purposes of disinfection, as the Germans told them, but that they were going to be killed. –Ed.] I cut cleanly, as though with a razor, to make it smooth. For a reason. And this girl started talking. She had come from the Warsaw ghetto. She was beautiful. She was naked. And in the background there was fog, like mist, that was rising from the ground, from the warm clothing left on the ground, from the body heat left in the clothing, and maybe also because the women had urinated. They had just come from the big room where all the women were forced to take off their clothing, into a smaller room, through some doors. So in the background there was mist rising from the clothing. And she started talking. She said, “I am Ruth Dorfmann.” I remember! She said, “I have a diploma.” She had learned in the ghetto. She was about 20, my age.  <br />
1639. <br />
1640. <strong>How old were you?</strong><br />
1641. <br />
1642. I was 19, turning 20. I turned 20 in Treblinka.<br />
1643. And she was talking. She asked, “How long will it take?” She knew [that she was about to be killed]! They all knew!<br />
1644. You know, I made a sculpture of a painter who painted all the signs that were on the ramp. Why? Why? The Germans made signs: signs to Bialystok, a clock that didn’t really work. The Germans made it look like a real train station….<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#11">[11]</a> And it really looked like one.<br />
1645. <br />
1646. <strong>Tell the story of the sculpture of the girl from Warsaw who lost her mind and stood with the piece of bread. </strong><br />
1647. <br />
1648. Ada: You know, Samuel knows the stories of Treblinka. But in the Warsaw ghetto – I was there – there were people dying of hunger, there were people who committed suicide, there were people who went crazy. I was lucky that I was still a girl – maybe I didn’t understand everything. But a lot of adults went crazy.<br />
1649. <br />
1650. Samuel: Some killed themselves. <br />
1651. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1652. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgem31YKfU532LldeTuvhk0IzocOufYVvkbBbBdwnhWltPywArUrohaTnvlH6lbMPwLnctdI4Uar_I2VOhrMxJasDggnGpzqnz6zQLJ7LxLF33a7FCzxJ261eNdpEZLzanWE1giRa05obU/s1600/IMG_2446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgem31YKfU532LldeTuvhk0IzocOufYVvkbBbBdwnhWltPywArUrohaTnvlH6lbMPwLnctdI4Uar_I2VOhrMxJasDggnGpzqnz6zQLJ7LxLF33a7FCzxJ261eNdpEZLzanWE1giRa05obU/s320/IMG_2446.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
1653. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Half-crazy girl from the Warsaw<br />
1654. ghetto holding her last treasure-<br />
1655. a piece of bread (2002)</td></tr>
1656. </tbody></table>
1657. <br />
1658. Ada: Many people went crazy. So simply, around January 18th, when Ruth Dorfmann arrived on the transport, many of the Jews living in Warsaw already knew where they were being taken. By January there were already instances where people had escaped from the trains on the way to Treblinka and came back to the ghetto and told stories – and we didn’t want to believe them. Even today I can’t believe what went on in Treblinka, so how could they then? I was about 13 years old in the ghetto. I remember that there were those who came [back to Warsaw] and told that they had escaped from the train, or from the camp itself – but people didn’t believe them. And then those who did begin to understand – some of them went crazy, and others committed suicide. And this girl, she was one of those who went crazy.<br />
1659. <br />
1660. Samuel: It was winter. There was a girl who got off the train, and just stood there. Everyone else went inside the yard – “Schnell, schnell, schnell, schnell!!” [“Fast, fast, fast!” the Germans yelled]…<br />
1661. <br />
1662. Ada: And they went in towards the “Death Road”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#12">[12]</a>.<br />
1663. <br />
1664. Samuel: But this girl stood still. The barracks were just like the ones in Majdanek – they were actually stables for horses – just like in Birkenau. There were two prefabricated barracks standing together. Here there was an opening.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#13">[13]</a> And suddenly Miete of the SS – the “Angel of Death” – told the girl to move forward. We saw her entering the sorting yard. He nudged her forward into the yard, like a child rolling a ball forward. And suddenly she saw all the people, all the colors, the open suitcases.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#14">[14]</a><br />
1665. And we<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#15">[15]</a> saw her. We stopped working and we all stared at her.<br />
1666. <br />
1667. Ada: And she was dressed differently…<br />
1668. <br />
1669. Samuel: You see that she was wearing high heels. She was dressed in all kinds of things she had probably found in one of the destroyed houses in Warsaw, where the people had run away at the last minute. And probably when they ran, they left shoes like this behind. They didn’t wear shoes like this!<br />
1670. <br />
1671. Ada: I know – my mother was taken to Treblinka. And I know that every time we were called to assemble in a courtyard and rounded up for an Aktion, people wore layers of clothing – they wore as much clothing as they could. Because we believed we were being taken to a labor camp. So you wore a lot of clothing so that you would have a change of clothing – three dresses, several pairs of underwear. So people usually wore very practical clothing. And this girl… <br />
1672. <br />
1673. Samuel: She was dressed like a ballerina!<br />
1674. <br />
1675. Ada: She was dressed like for a ball. With the high-heeled shoes.<br />
1676. <br />
1677. Samuel: And she was staring with these eyes – it was abnormal. She was clutching a piece of bread to her chest. It was something extraordinary.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#16">[16]</a><br />
1678. <br />
1679. <strong>Where did she get the bread? Was it bread that was given out by the Germans at the Umschlagplatz</strong><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#17">[17]</a>?<br />
1680. <br />
1681. Ada: No, I don’t think so. When the Germans first started the transports from Warsaw, the miserable people in the ghetto who didn’t have anything to eat would go to the Umschlagplatz because there the Germans gave them bread and jam.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#18">[18]</a><br />
1682. Afterwards, the Germans already stopped with this.<br />
1683. <br />
1684. Samuel: It wasn’t in the first days of the transports [so the bread she was clutching wasn’t given to her by the Germans]. It was December, 1942 or January, 1943 – around when Arthur Gold<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#19">[19]</a>, the conductor from Warsaw, came.<br />
1685. <br />
1686. You don’t understand. I saw people, pass by – artists. People you’ve never heard of. And they were killed in Treblinka. It’s hard to explain what art there was! Culture. Warsaw was culture!<br />
1687. <br />
1688. <strong>Tell us about the sculpture of Arthur Gold. </strong><br />
1689. <br />
1690. [The sculpture shows the trio of violinists that the Germans forced to play in the camp. They played popular prewar tunes. Samuel wrote that the tunes reminded the prisoners of years gone by, and “left us depressed and sore of heart. The Germans were pleased with themselves: they had succeeded in organizing an orchestra in the death camp.” Willenberg, p. 133].<br />
1691. <br />
1692. Samuel: During the time of the exhibition of my sculptures in Israel, the Polish Ambassador came. I put a tape on the side, and while I explained the sculpture to the audience, I put on the music [of Arthur Gold]. I put on music and he cried.<br />
1693. <br />
1694. Ada: You know why he cried – because my husband said, “We will stand here for a moment in memory of Arthur Gold. He isn’t alive anymore, no one remembers him, he has no grave, so we’ll stand here for a minute and listen to his music.” And the ambassador cried.<br />
1695. <br />
1696. Samuel: You know why they dressed the orchestra like this<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a> <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#20">[20]</a>? So that the SS-men could make fun of them, and could laugh at them. To show them that they were nothing, that they were not men. To make them into clowns. This made it easier for the SS to kill them – it’s much easier to kill if it’s not a human being that must be honored.<br />
1697. <br />
1698. <strong>What about the sculpture of the man with the baby carriage.</strong> <br />
1699. <br />
1700. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1701. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtS-pqfH0TSsY6RYtDK-M3tM0gafHQzlCwoF4cVsJYMPSz7KztyiPl8MCkSZAZpq5dQeTnIucMHAbaIljTkgQl2Vmb-yH2dosgj6RpWTLZs4wwv6v4TFC_cICbL-xPBogXSqC8c6hfLhQ/s200/x.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
1702. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Flaschensortierungkommando- </em><br />
1703. <em>the nickname for the group of</em><br />
1704. <em>Jewish prisoners collecting</em><br />
1705. <em>glass bottles to eliminate the </em><br />
1706. <em>signs of those killed at Treblinka</em><br />
1707. <em>(2002)</em><br />
1708. <br />
1709. </td></tr>
1710. </tbody></table>
1711. <br />
1712. <br />
1713. <br />
1714. Ada: You know that the Germans had a special department, the Flaschensortierungkommando.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#21">[21]</a> Before the war there was no plastic, so everyone had glass bottles that they used in order to bring things with them – medicines, everything. And suddenly the Germans made a special work detail – a detail that collected all the bottles – they did this because glass remains in the earth and doesn’t disintegrate for thousands of years…<br />
1715. <br />
1716. Samuel: The Germans were afraid that someone would find all these bottles, in the middle of the forest, and get suspicious: where did so many bottles come from? So the Germans made a new department to clean up all the glass.<br />
1717. <br />
1718. <strong>What is the sculpture of the man without the leg?</strong> <br />
1719. <br />
1720. <br />
1721. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1722. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSvGTUzh5ZfxsUUeq1dcnYnzzzLKzckPlsxWq7ZFp5vQaMTLt-XIKt7mG6vqCBDiAUPNeHqLLgW-0v0sBLpR6Mi9yO8Y00mekWgtFnCbldzmBkvftnsofQTc3tc8cqxk1kgKAaDGlpCw/s1600/d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSvGTUzh5ZfxsUUeq1dcnYnzzzLKzckPlsxWq7ZFp5vQaMTLt-XIKt7mG6vqCBDiAUPNeHqLLgW-0v0sBLpR6Mi9yO8Y00mekWgtFnCbldzmBkvftnsofQTc3tc8cqxk1kgKAaDGlpCw/s200/d.jpg" width="129" /></a></td></tr>
1723. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Jewish disabled WWI German army<br />
1724. veteran in Treblinka, with his prothesis,<br />
1725. was considered unfit to walk to the<br />
1726. gas chambers and was sent to be shot<br />
1727. in <em>Lazarett </em>(2002)</td></tr>
1728. </tbody></table>
1729. Ada: This sculpture is of a German war veteran from WWI who lost his leg. He thought that if he came to Treblinka with all his medals, that he’d get some kind of special treatment, but they killed him just like they killed all the other Jews – they killed him in the Lazarett with a bullet because he couldn’t walk. <br />
1730. <br />
1731. <strong>And the sculpture of the stretcher?</strong><br />
1732. <br />
1733. This is the group that had to clean the cattle cars – they took the corpses out of the trains at the time that the trains arrived. They were called the “Blues.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#22">[22]</a><br />
1734. <br />
1735. <strong></strong><br />
1736. <strong></strong><br />
1737. <strong></strong><br />
1738. <strong></strong><br />
1739. <strong>We are indebted to Samuel, and to Ada, for sharing their time and their insights with us and for allowing us to see Samuel’s wonderful sculptures, which bring the scenes of Treblinka back to life.</strong><br />
1740. <br />
1741. <br />
1742. <br />
1743. <a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#001"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Samuel was, for many years, chief surveyor in Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#002"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The Scheissmeister was a prisoner put on duty to guard the latrine, so that no prisoner could spend more than two minutes there. As Samuel himself says in his book, “When the Germans noticed that the prisoners were going to the latrine too often and spending too much time there, Lalka [Kurt Franz, one of the SS men who later became the camp Kommandant, nicknamed “Lalka”, which means “doll” in Polish, for his “baby face” - Ed.] ordered the Vorarbeiters [sic] [Jewish foremen of a labor detail] to go to the storeroom and procure two rabbinical black suits and a couple of black hats with pompoms on them. Two prisoners were equipped with whips and ordered to don this getup. It was their job to make sure no more than five prisoners entered the outhouse at any one time and that they spent no longer than one minute inside. Alarm clocks dangled from their necks on strings. They were called the Scheisskommando – the “Shit Detail”. The Germans enjoyed their joke raucously….” Samuel adds that the Germans purposely made the prisoner who was the “master” of the Scheisskommando look ridiculous. “It was incredibly humiliating.” Samuel Willenberg,Revolt in Treblinka (Warsaw: Jewish Historical Institute, 2008), pp. 135-136, 273.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#003"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> A hazzan is the cantor who sings liturgical music in a Jewish synagogue.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#004"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The “reds”, or the Transportkommando, were among the few Jewish prisoners who were kept alive in order to work for the Germans at Treblinka. A group of “about forty prisoners was engaged in the activities carried out on the square where the victims undressed. They directed the victims, relayed the German orders to undress, and distributed string for tying shoes together so they could be easily reused in the future without having to sort them….In Treblinka this team wore red armbands and became known as ‘the reds,’ or, in the prisoners’ special slang, the ‘burial society’ (Chevra kadisha).” Yitzhak Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), p. 108.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#005"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[5]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> By “ramp”, Samuel is referring to the train platform at Treblinka onto which Jews from all over Poland and a number of additional countries, as well as about 2,000 Sinti and Roma, disembarked from the cattlecars and entered the camp to be exterminated.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#006"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[6]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Samuel’s sisters were murdered at Treblinka. He became aware of this when, as he was sorting the possessions of Jews in the sorting yard at Treblinka, he found a small brown coat that had belonged to his little sister, Tamara, who was five years old. A skirt worn by his older sister Itta was clinging to the skirt, “as if in a sisters’ embrace.” Samuel was able to recognize the coat as his sister’s because his mother had lengthened its sleeves with bits of green cloth as his sister grew. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, p. 72.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#007"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[7]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The uprising at Treblinka took place on August 2, 1943. As Samuel writes in his book, “It was a singular and unique day, one which we anticipated and hoped for. Our hearts pounded with the hope that maybe, just maybe our long-nurtured dream would come true. We harbored no thoughts of ourselves and our lives. Our only desire was to obliterate the death factory which had become our home.” Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, p. 180.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#008"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[8]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Samuel described the scene as follows: “The machine gun stepped up its bursts. Behind me, at the outer fence, tragedy. The brave ones climbed up the iron and wire complex only to be hit there by a bullet. They fell with screams of despair. Their bodies remained hanging on the wires, spraying blood on the ground. No one paid any attention to them. More prisoners climbed over the still-quivering bodies and they, too, were cut down and fell, their crazed eyes staring at the camp, which now looked like a giant torch…I crawled through the open area and reached the barriers….The dead had created a sort of bridge over the barbed-wire complex across which another escapee moved every moment…With a leap, I climbed the bridge of bodies. I heard a shot, felt a blow – but another jump, and I was in the forest….” Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, p. 292. </span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#009"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[9]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The sculpture of the girl whose hair is only partially cut is connected to the story of Ruth Dorfmann. The events that Samuel describes here occurred in mid-January, 1943, when transports from the Warsaw Ghetto began reaching Treblinka every day after a letup of several months. At that time, Samuel was working in the sorting yard, sorting and packing up the personal effects of murdered Jews.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#010"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[10]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> A group of ten to twenty men in the camp were forced to cut the hair of the women immediately before they were sent to the gas chambers. Samuel generally worked in the sorting yard, but in the incident he is speaking about, because of the size of the transport, extra men were needed to cut the women’s hair. Haircutting in the Operation Reinhard camps began in September or October, 1942, after the SS Main Office for Economic Affairs and Administration issued an order dated August 16, 1942 that provided, “care is to be taken to make use of the human hair collected in all concentration camps. This human hair is threaded on bobbins and converted into industrial felt. After being combed and cut, the women’s hair can be manufactured as slippers for submarine crews and felt stockings for the Reichsbahn.” Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, p. 109.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#011"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[11]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Samuel is referring to the German’s blatant and painstaking use of signs (including other signs for “First Class Waiting Room”, “Second Class Waiting Room”, “Ticket Booth”, and so on), and other means of deception on the ramp to fool the arrivals at Treblinka into thinking that they had reached a harmless, pastoral train station in a transit camp and would be showered and sent on to labor camps. Victims were to be deceived until the very end.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#012"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[12]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The reference here is to the path taken by most of the people who arrived at Treblinka: they were taken and forced to undress, women had their hair cut, and then all were sent to the gas chambers. The Germans cynically referred to the path to the gas chambers as the Himmelstrasse – the road to heaven. Prisoners more realistically called it Death Road.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#013"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[13]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Samuel indicated, on the sketch of Treblinka that he drew in 1981, a space near the rear gate between two huts that abutted the train platform. This was not the way most prisoners were led into the camp; they went in through the main gate and never saw the sorting yard, which would have revealed all the secrets of Treblinka and given them clues that Treblinka was a death camp. This was purposeful deception by the Germans. </span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#014"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[14]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The reference here is to the plundered Jewish property. Suitcases were opened on the ground for sorting, and there was what Samuel himself describes as a “towering multicolored mountain” of property in the sorting yard. Willenberg at p. 79. </span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#015"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[15]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Samuel is referring to the prisoners working in the sorting yard, sorting through the possessions of the murdered Jews.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#016"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[16]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> In his book, Samuel finishes the story of the girl: “Like an apparition from another world, she approached the sorters one after another, glancing at the contents of the suitcases as if she were visiting a market at a sidewalk of street peddlers. She wandered among us, showing us a gentle smile and terrified eyes. Stopping at one of the suitcases, she withdrew kerchiefs of various colors and flung them into the air, as if dancing. Work came to a halt; everyone contemplated this strange specimen of colorful Warsaw misery….Suddenly her skinny face froze with fear. Terror seized her from top to bottom, driving the madness from her….She contemplated us with the fear of a person who, with the intuition of an animal, senses that her end is near.” Miete propelled the girl toward the area of the sorting yard near where an innocent fence with interwoven pine branches camouflaged the Lazarett – the so-called “field hospital”, also disguised with a Red Cross flag. In the Lazarett, prisoners who couldn’t walk or would have held up the extermination process were killed with a gunshot to the back of their heads. The girl from Warsaw was killed this way in the Lazarett. According to Samuel, the workers in the sorting yard paid the little girl from Warsaw their last respects when they heard the gunshot. Willenberg, pp. 77-79.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#017"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[17]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The deportation area where the trains left with their human cargo. </span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#018"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[18]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> This was a ruse used by the Germans to get unsuspecting, starving Jews to volunteer for deportation.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#019"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[19]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Arthur Gold was a well-known conductor of popular music, like waltzes and tangos, that was brought from the Warsaw ghetto and murdered in Treblinka.</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#020"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[20]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> In his book, Samuel describes the clothes the Germans forced the musicians to wear. “They ordered our tailors to sew jackets of shiny, loud blue cloth, and to attach giant bow ties to the collars. Dressed not as prisoners any longer but as clowns, they provided entertainment after roll call, day in, day out. …The music was usually accompanied by the tenor of the crane engine. The diligent machine kept on exhuming and relocating corpses in the death camp even after 6:00 p.m., for the Germans had decided to expedite the matter of covering all traces and burning the bodies. The moment the concert ended, the SS-men ordered us to march toward the entrance to the hut….”</span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#021"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[21]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Translated, the Bottlesorting Detail. The baby carriages and strollers of the children who were murdered at Treblinka were used by this work group to collect bottles, thermoses, jars and aluminum containers. Children’s strollers were also used by the prisoners to collect garbage. </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/interviews/willenberg.asp#022"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[22]</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> “This group of forty to fifty prisoners worked at the train platform. The team’s job was to open the freight cars and transfer the orders of the SS man in charge to disembark from the train. After the victims disembarked, the team workers removed the bodies of those who had died en route and transferred them to the burial ditches. Then they cleaned the cars and removed any remaining belongings to eliminate any traces of the transport cargo. Two or three prisoners would clean each freight car, and within ten to fifteen minutes the entire train had been cleaned. In Treblinka the platform workers’ team wore blue armbands, and thus were known as “the blues.” Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps, at p. 108.</span><br />
1744. <br />
1745. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1746. </div>
1747. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/02/temp_21.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVpeDIfb2wzREJ1d-AlpQzFvMrWWy16W1Mlb5yDchVYU7fiwfx-rcEuMlm-cci96eqdN8Lb4q3tDUXqAFdIf634DdoNPa-1eFTgV9n08pk5QWLWviVQ7djJyo4IU5777Rakg1yRP-QfI8/s72-c/IMG_2453.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-2715207058491579731</guid><pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2016 08:51:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-01-28T11:07:44.202+02:00</atom:updated><title>Grandson of Polish Righteous Among the Nations  Accepted Honor on their Behalf</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
1748. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1749. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">When the Warsaw ghetto was established in October
1750. 1940, Mieczyslaw Ferster, a Jewish engineer who happened to be tall and blond,
1751. was begged by his friends not to report to the German occupying authorities.
1752. Stating that he would "go where his people will go," Mieczyslaw, his
1753. wife Janina (née Totenberg) and their five-year-old daughter Elizabeth entered
1754. the ghetto: two years later Mieczyslaw died, most likely from typhoid fever.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1755. <br />
1756. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1757. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
1758. <br />
1759. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1760. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Left alone, Janina and Elizabeth managed to survive a
1761. few more months, partially thanks to money and packages sent to them by
1762. Janina's brother, Roman (Romek) Totenberg, a violinist who had left Poland in
1763. 1928 to study in Germany and France, and had then immigrated to the US. When a
1764. fellow Polish musician who owned a kiosk just outside of the ghetto heard that
1765. Roman's sister was incarcerated inside, he arranged for her photo to be placed
1766. on the ID card of a Polish worker allowed to enter the ghetto. Thus, one
1767. evening in July 1942, just before the "Great Deportation" of Jews in
1768. the ghetto to the Treblinka death camp, Janina walked out clutching her fake ID
1769. card, with little Elizabeth following behind, her blond hair and blue eyes
1770. belying the stereotyped "Jewish" features expected by the ghetto
1771. guards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1772. <br />
1773. <br />
1774. <br />
1775. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1776. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWGu-W8fSu7hKBTtzdSUNUNDBOkr8md0RkLp0CGqbDYFqsQYV7zpxoWw1EHB6ZTCacSvWpmCwlOhsBTkEVQMc-x83xCVTZ3HZVYqzlGdcC3yQNxdBFAjpM8PpVqtMD8sYyjvVqNAFnx0/s1600/Zbijewski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWGu-W8fSu7hKBTtzdSUNUNDBOkr8md0RkLp0CGqbDYFqsQYV7zpxoWw1EHB6ZTCacSvWpmCwlOhsBTkEVQMc-x83xCVTZ3HZVYqzlGdcC3yQNxdBFAjpM8PpVqtMD8sYyjvVqNAFnx0/s320/Zbijewski.jpg" width="204" /></a></td></tr>
1777. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">
1778.  
1779. </span><br />
1780. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1781. <i><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">Maryla and Walery Zbijewski on a </span></i></div>
1782. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1783. <i><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">prewar skiing
1784. vacation </span></i></div>
1785. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1786. <i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">with Mieczyslaw and Janina Ferster<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
1787. <span style="font-size: small;">
1788.  
1789. </span></td></tr>
1790. </tbody></table>
1791. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1792. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Right away, Janina went to the home of her prewar
1793. acquaintances – Tadeusz and Eugenia Kucharski. The Kucharskis kindly took them
1794. in; the neighbors were told that Janina was the wife of a Polish officer
1795. stationed in the UK. When the Russians bombed the nearby railroad tracks in
1796. September 1942, the building in which they were staying suffered great damage.
1797. Janina decided to take Elizabeth to stay with her old friends, Maryla and
1798. Walery Zbijewski, who lived with their two children near the Vistula River.
1799. Janina wandered from place to place, supporting herself by selling the
1800. valuables she had left with another family before entering the ghetto.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1801. <br />
1802. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1803. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
1804. <br />
1805. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1806. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Janina and Elizabeth spent the remainder of the war
1807. staying at the homes of various families in the countryside for a few days at a
1808. time, not revealing their Jewish origins. After the war, Janina became close to
1809. Pawel Kruk, a former neighbor, and they moved in with him. Pawel eventually
1810. adopted Elizabeth, and she took his surname.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1811. <br />
1812. 
1813.  
1814. <br />
1815. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1816. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 1958, Elizabeth's uncle Roman came to visit his
1817. sister and niece in Warsaw. While Janina chose to stay with Pawel in Poland,
1818. Roman managed to arrange a student visa for Elizabeth, who studied biochemistry
1819. at NYU. In 1963, Elizabeth married Sherwin Wilk, and they had two children –
1820. Renata Janina and Susan Fanny – and two grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1821. <br />
1822. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1823. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
1824. <br />
1825. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1826. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">With the help of documentation provided by Elizabeth
1827. Wilk, Yad Vashem was able to extend the title of Righteous Among the Nations to
1828. the two couples that rescued Janina and Elizabeth Ferster during the war:
1829. Tadeusz and Eugenia Kucharski, and Maryla and Walery Zbijewski. While the
1830. Kucharskis passed away with no known relatives, the Zbijewskis' grandson
1831. Wojciech, today lives in Baltimore. Wojciech accepted the medal and
1832. certificate of honor on behalf of his late grandparents at a special ceremony
1833. held on 27 January, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, at the
1834. Israeli embassy in Washington, DC.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1835. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/01/grandson-of-polish-righteous-among.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWGu-W8fSu7hKBTtzdSUNUNDBOkr8md0RkLp0CGqbDYFqsQYV7zpxoWw1EHB6ZTCacSvWpmCwlOhsBTkEVQMc-x83xCVTZ3HZVYqzlGdcC3yQNxdBFAjpM8PpVqtMD8sYyjvVqNAFnx0/s72-c/Zbijewski.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-5753353125089002414</guid><pubDate>Mon, 25 Jan 2016 10:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2016-01-25T12:07:48.958+02:00</atom:updated><title>Restoration of Wartime Diary Reveals Life in the Warsaw Ghetto</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
1836. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1837. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Recently, Yad Vashem was
1838. honored to host Wlodek Tabaczynski and his daughter Zosia, who had come to see
1839. the incredible restoration work carried out on the wartime diary of Wlodek's
1840. father, Stefan (né Alfred Zielony).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1841. <br />
1842. <br />
1843. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1844. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHbwSJ5_zDUUEaYCQCsCgj2ZPmisem_4PynyqYm2gZ_zaMSVwh19lyVHIt3IYArZI2hXN4MCszd4rbUivgjOKfnVMjsXeuc87e9i1g6SBqLMgJZP_uxGslURf5dVLod8bRkDdjOAuZwo/s1600/AlfredIrena.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHbwSJ5_zDUUEaYCQCsCgj2ZPmisem_4PynyqYm2gZ_zaMSVwh19lyVHIt3IYArZI2hXN4MCszd4rbUivgjOKfnVMjsXeuc87e9i1g6SBqLMgJZP_uxGslURf5dVLod8bRkDdjOAuZwo/s320/AlfredIrena.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1845. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">
1846.  
1847. </span><br />
1848. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1849. <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Stefan Tabaczynski (né
1850. Alfred Zielony) and his wife Irena, </span></span></i></div>
1851. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1852. <i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">who rescued him during WWII<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
1853. <span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">
1854.  
1855. </span></td></tr>
1856. </tbody></table>
1857. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Alfred Zielony was born in
1858. 1897 in Warsaw, the youngest child in a Jewish family. His father and one of
1859. his brothers died before WWII, and another brother, Bernard, immigrated to
1860. Israel in 1921. The rest of the family remained in Warsaw, and were duly
1861. incarcerated by the Nazis in the ghetto. It was there that one of Alfred's
1862. sisters, Balbina, died of typhus. In August 1942, his wife and child were
1863. deported to Treblinka along with his mother, where they were murdered. Two
1864. other siblings were also murdered, and Alfred was left alone, hiding in the
1865. ghetto. After the ghetto was liquidated, a friend of his, Irena, who had worked
1866. in the family business before the war, managed to smuggle him to safety. At the
1867. war's end, Alfred changed his name to Stefan Tabaczynski and married Irena.
1868. Stefan/Alfred passed away in 1956, when Wlodek was just two years old.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
1869. <o:p> </o:p></span><br />
1870. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1871. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58xXilJb9n2FXGhgtUz7WDMx-c1EhlGowiEMk6e57c-U2jWiOzRv906O1hJlFGHNq9xYZgIKgSJTKG6Ykk0ZXA0mppH1BRh8IaIEnPTq5Et6ShNlB3abQN9bp0k9R5ySX-bWithjs3h8/s1600/AlfredWlodek.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58xXilJb9n2FXGhgtUz7WDMx-c1EhlGowiEMk6e57c-U2jWiOzRv906O1hJlFGHNq9xYZgIKgSJTKG6Ykk0ZXA0mppH1BRh8IaIEnPTq5Et6ShNlB3abQN9bp0k9R5ySX-bWithjs3h8/s320/AlfredWlodek.jpeg" width="236" /></a></td></tr>
1872. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">
1873.  
1874. </span><br />
1875. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1876. <i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Stefan/Alfred Tabaczynski with
1877. his son, Wlodek<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
1878. <span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">
1879.  
1880. </span></td></tr>
1881. </tbody></table>
1882. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">In the 1950s, Alexander
1883. (Alex) Zielony, the son of Bernard (who had come to Israel before the war), visited
1884. Washington for government business. On his way back to Israel, Alex decided to
1885. take a detour via Warsaw and visit his aunt, Irena, and his two cousins, Wlodek
1886. and Andrzej. During the trip, Irena showed Alex the crumbling remains of a
1887. diary her late husband had written during his time in hiding. The diary had
1888. been severely damaged by fire and water during the Polish uprising.</span></span><br />
1889. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><o:p></o:p></span></span>
1890.  
1891. <br />
1892. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 2006, Wlodek came on his
1893. first trip to Israel and, at his cousin Alex's request, brought the diary with
1894. him. Alex immediately suggested giving the diary to Yad Vashem, in the hope
1895. that restoration experts could help the family save the deteriorating pages and
1896. even decipher some of Alfred's testimony. </span></span><br />
1897. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><o:p></o:p></span></span>
1898.  
1899. <br />
1900. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1901. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">"The diary was in
1902. terrible shape," recounts Yad Vashem's Archives Director Dr. Haim Gertner.
1903. "It was little more than a mass of singed and crumbling papers. We treated
1904. it with immense care and expertise at our Paper Restoration Laboratory, first
1905. carefully separating the pages and then restoring and preserving each page as
1906. far as was possible. After years of painstaking labor, the diary now comprises twelve
1907. complete and four partial pages – although because of the difficult state in
1908. which they arrived, they are barely legible. While certain words and even parts
1909. of sentences – all written in Polish or German – can be made out, it was near
1910. impossible to understand the general context. </span></span><br />
1911.  </div>
1912. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1913. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1hkfziSzXWiJGxekg739tfzU7QuZyhipM0PpiotT9XuKnAD_8omvr7Nun8lDsP-a_q9LHJL43gBjpGUJD9ZkHcgK3NBmV7T5picnhCQ0b-yZEhnLvjJdGrLzxgSAQOM9mHCX8gj2g98/s1600/before.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1hkfziSzXWiJGxekg739tfzU7QuZyhipM0PpiotT9XuKnAD_8omvr7Nun8lDsP-a_q9LHJL43gBjpGUJD9ZkHcgK3NBmV7T5picnhCQ0b-yZEhnLvjJdGrLzxgSAQOM9mHCX8gj2g98/s320/before.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1914. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">
1915.  
1916. </span><br />
1917. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1918. <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">Alfred Zielony's diary:
1919. "Little more than a mass of </span></span></i></div>
1920. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1921. <i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">singed and crumbling papers"<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
1922. <span style="font-size: small;">
1923.  
1924. </span></td></tr>
1925. </tbody></table>
1926. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1927. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Even employing the most advanced
1928. methods of handwriting reconstruction, police identification lab equipment and the
1929. help of antiques and other experts in Israel and abroad, we were still unable
1930. to decipher the diary, or even say with certainty when during the war or where
1931. it was written. Nevertheless, we were extremely satisfied that at least the
1932. diary itself had been saved." <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1933. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></span><br />
1934. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Last week, Wlodek
1935. Tabaczynski and his daughter Zosia came to Israel to celebrate the 100<sup>th</sup>
1936. birthday of Wlodek's cousin Alex. Dr. Gertner showed Wlodek Yad Vashem's online
1937. Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names, within seconds calling up all 18
1938. Pages of Testimony Alex Zielony had filled out in 2008 for individual members
1939. of his family who were murdered during the Shoah. Seeing all of this
1940. information recorded for posterity was very important for Wlodek – a project
1941. manager – and  Zosia, who is a teacher. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
1942. <br />
1943. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
1944. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnGgNuAC79yl6jnqn_uRp5-gL2dpiDtMEACF7nPPgPK_cbOv2mhgahvTg_OK6HqB2zD40Ur6iT2zpcEBJL6xB94T7QpxJZxezVe1ucq8qKP1wKTw6UxpghfQAsbGFENg0w7L-QDZfnlQ/s1600/Haim%252C+Zosia%252C+Wlodek%252C+Varda.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnGgNuAC79yl6jnqn_uRp5-gL2dpiDtMEACF7nPPgPK_cbOv2mhgahvTg_OK6HqB2zD40Ur6iT2zpcEBJL6xB94T7QpxJZxezVe1ucq8qKP1wKTw6UxpghfQAsbGFENg0w7L-QDZfnlQ/s320/Haim%252C+Zosia%252C+Wlodek%252C+Varda.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1945. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">
1946.  
1947. </span><br />
1948. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1949. <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Left to right: Archives
1950. Division Director Dr. Haim Gertner, </span></span></i><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></span></i></span></div>
1951. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1952. <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Zosia Tabaczynski, </span></span></i></span><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">Wlodek Tabaczynski and
1953. Varda Gross, </span></span></i></div>
1954. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1955. <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">Director of the Restoration </span></span></i><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">Laboratory at Yad Vashem</span></span></i></div>
1956. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1957. <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;"> looking at
1958. restored pages from Wlodek's </span></span></i></div>
1959. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1960. <i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">father's diary, written in the Warsaw ghetto<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
1961. <span style="font-size: small;">
1962.  
1963. </span></td></tr>
1964. </tbody></table>
1965. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">However, Wlodek was visibly
1966. moved when he was shown the diary and was able to see its pages for the first
1967. time. He recalled how his father had studied law and then practiced journalism
1968. – eventually heading the Polish Society of Journalists (PAP) after the war.
1969. "He loved to write," he explained, and asked to touch the actual
1970. pages of the diary. "I can't help it," he said. "It's just like
1971. touching my father again."</span></span><br />
1972. <br />
1973. <br />
1974. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1975. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">In his home, Wlodek has a
1976. separate page that Alfred wrote, on which he recorded the names of all his
1977. family members that died – when, how and where – in succinct notes. At the end
1978. of the list, Alfred wrote: "…but I could write tomes about how I survived."
1979. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
1980. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
1981. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBoJq7qgbcKG6EmJYq1AHlMHEojwv1sjR4Uv2B3N3QA_DdRTFGNTpNo03w40kl3TfkfvcBnKMYf2OpfUMINYBD_Wl3loKEj_w_5QZJ7rklZj1JIw-Guq8zmXIO8_b-Hm_9ZRxq1e_Yh5I/s1600/AlfredWlodekIrenaAndrzej.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBoJq7qgbcKG6EmJYq1AHlMHEojwv1sjR4Uv2B3N3QA_DdRTFGNTpNo03w40kl3TfkfvcBnKMYf2OpfUMINYBD_Wl3loKEj_w_5QZJ7rklZj1JIw-Guq8zmXIO8_b-Hm_9ZRxq1e_Yh5I/s320/AlfredWlodekIrenaAndrzej.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
1982. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">
1983.  
1984. </span><br />
1985. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1986. <i><span style="font-size: x-small; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Stefan/Alfred and Irena Tabaczynski
1987. with their </span></i></div>
1988. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
1989. <i><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">two young sons, Wlodek and Andrzej<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
1990. <span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">
1991.  
1992. </span></td></tr>
1993. </tbody></table>
1994. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></span><br />
1995. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></span><br />
1996. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">As Wlodek was familiar with
1997. his father's challenging handwriting, he was able to make out a few lines from
1998. the diary. For example, there is a description of how those Jews living in the
1999. ghetto who had work certificates would gather early each morning at the checkpoint
2000. at the ghetto gates, and return in the evening, bringing with them whatever
2001. food they had managed to bargain or buy to smuggle back into the ghetto.
2002. "But the officers usually took this food away," recalled Alfred –
2003. leaving the despondent men to return empty-handed to their starving families.
2004. "For the first time, we realized that this diary was most likely written
2005. in the Warsaw ghetto itself, and describes daily life there," said Dr.
2006. Gertner.<o:p></o:p></span></span>
2007. <br />
2008. <br />
2009. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2010. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Wlodek ended his visit by
2011. pledging to devote his time to deciphering as much of the diary as he can –
2012. bringing Yad Vashem closer than ever to untangling the content of this rare
2013. piece of   documentary testimony about life in the Warsaw ghetto.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2014. <br />
2015. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2016. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
2017. <br />
2018. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2019. <br /></div>
2020. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2016/01/restoration-of-wartime-diary-reveals.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHbwSJ5_zDUUEaYCQCsCgj2ZPmisem_4PynyqYm2gZ_zaMSVwh19lyVHIt3IYArZI2hXN4MCszd4rbUivgjOKfnVMjsXeuc87e9i1g6SBqLMgJZP_uxGslURf5dVLod8bRkDdjOAuZwo/s72-c/AlfredIrena.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-4502633166456276184</guid><pubDate>Thu, 24 Dec 2015 12:04:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-12-24T15:51:17.032+02:00</atom:updated><title>Remembering the 1+1+1</title><description>&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;By: Adina&amp;nbsp;Schreiber&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
2021. <span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
2022. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2023. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oIykTmXlgzXZevVnWCt5lwX8o59ImQaySDai8gfwrZkcYXsbn8lFp2VLwukSt74GF19WGimaHOsHo84-5e9OaKQlTJpzfpriJmcaeW91q5f12XMyJ_sOURwfpEy8SXsIv1WNycSp2fI/s1600/adina+headshot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oIykTmXlgzXZevVnWCt5lwX8o59ImQaySDai8gfwrZkcYXsbn8lFp2VLwukSt74GF19WGimaHOsHo84-5e9OaKQlTJpzfpriJmcaeW91q5f12XMyJ_sOURwfpEy8SXsIv1WNycSp2fI/s320/adina+headshot.JPG" width="245" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Growing up I was very fortunate to come to Israel on many
2024. occasions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Every trip was full of
2025. museums, hikes, fun activities and, without fail, a trip up to Haifa to visit
2026. my grandfather's cousin, Dudu, as well as a visit to the cemetery where my
2027. grandfather's family is buried. As you can imagine this was not always the
2028. highlight of my trip. I mean – who wants to go to a cemetery while on vacation?
2029. One time, while we were standing next to the grave of my great-grandmother,
2030. whom I am named for, I noticed she had additional names written on her
2031. headstone. When I pointed out this oddity, I was explained that those were the
2032. names of her siblings who had been murdered in the Holocaust. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since we do not know where they were killed,
2033. or what had happened to them, my family added the names on this headstone in
2034. order to remember them. This was the first time the importance of remembrance
2035. was called to my attention. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
2036. <span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
2037. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2038. <span style="font-family: inherit;">A few years later, while studying in seminary in Jerusalem, I went on a trip
2039. to Poland with a group of girls from my school. Not only would I be going with
2040. my teachers and friends, but my mother had decided to join us as well. My trip
2041. to Poland was a rollercoaster of emotions, thoughts, and ideas. I saw with my
2042. own eyes mass graves, ghettos, and death camps. During my week-long trip there
2043. was one moment that really stuck with me. I was sitting in a synagogue in
2044. Krakow and my teacher stood up and explained to us the immense importance of
2045. remembrance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are always taught to
2046. remember the atrocities that were committed against us, but most emphasized is
2047. that we must remember the six million innocent lives that were brutally taken
2048. from this world by the Nazi Germans and their collaborators. Six million. An
2049. unfathomable amount. He then continued to explain that just hearing the number
2050. six million was not enough; in order to understand the scope of the tragedy we
2051. need to think about the individual person. We need to remember the 1+1+1, the
2052. one mother, the one father, the one baby. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to remember the individual, the
2053. person, and not the number. We need to remember that there was someone named
2054. Ahava, someone named Sandor, someone named Avraham. Each one of them had a
2055. family, friends, hobbies. Each one of them had dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All of a sudden I understood exactly why
2056. those names were inscribed onto my great-grandmother's grave, and I understood
2057. that I was also responsible for remembering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
2058. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsX02uzqfsuLsjLMwwDJcUFSBoHaHMtQDcNoV9nIvtNjjjnq7gg3sEQJ7z0ijIINCHs6sSE3o4J5f1ol99WCaV5Fb6ivD7HDeAmQzx1n32n68GL_feT_4bGpHkmJFJ72qtuJoohPNYYu0/s1600/adina+hall+of+names+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsX02uzqfsuLsjLMwwDJcUFSBoHaHMtQDcNoV9nIvtNjjjnq7gg3sEQJ7z0ijIINCHs6sSE3o4J5f1ol99WCaV5Fb6ivD7HDeAmQzx1n32n68GL_feT_4bGpHkmJFJ72qtuJoohPNYYu0/s320/adina+hall+of+names+3.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I came back to Israel emotionally distraught and felt incredibly lost.
2059. And that is when I discovered Yad Vashem. Sure, I always knew it was there and
2060. had in fact visited more than once. But this time I discovered that Yad Vashem
2061. is not just a museum to go and visit, but also a place that focuses all of its energy
2062. on remembering the individual. Remembering the 1+1+1. With the help of the Yad
2063. Vashem Archives I began researching my family, and each time I learned a
2064. different name, saw a picture of someone else, learned a little about their
2065. lives – and just like that I became a partner in the mission to remember. </span><br />
2066. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
2067. <div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
2068. <br />
2069. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Several years later, after making Aliyah and beginning university, I had
2070. the opportunity to intern at Yad Vashem. Here, I have seen, heard, and learned
2071. many things. I have met and heard testimony from survivors, I have learned
2072. stories about different artifacts in the museum, and I have watched videos of
2073. different people sharing their thoughts and reflections. One of the things that
2074. made a large impact on me was my acquaintance with the story of Susan Kerekes. Yad
2075. Vashem has an incredible Bar/Bat Mitzvah twinning program, where bar/bat mitzvah
2076. boys and girls are given the responsibility of remembering a child from the Holocaust
2077. who was never able to celebrate their own bar/bat mitzvah. This November, a Bar
2078. Mitzvah boy was twinned with a boy named Sandor Braun. Sandor
2079. Braun's story was a bit of a mystery to us and it became my job to find out as
2080. much as I could about this boy and his family. That is when I came across
2081. Sandor's sister, Susan. Susan survived the camps and participated in the USC
2082. Shoah Foundation's project to record testimony, and through this I got to learn
2083. Susan's story. Even though I have never met her, nevertheless I connected with
2084. her. I laughed with her, I cried with her. And just like that Susan became a
2085. part of my life. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
2086. <div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
2087. </div>
2088. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBOTQm3T9w6iNTGIZ0LVz7z9lQ8fgmt0989b8n7yttlQBuYmggBtKdmOdN8zJ2jmEc-6i9j3N-BrDJuJvqn4PuLnhum3S2N0DQ7CopUn-tq0z0-5GtlxI4jRHtbdiCDVclbbm76MBuZk4/s1600/adina+exit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBOTQm3T9w6iNTGIZ0LVz7z9lQ8fgmt0989b8n7yttlQBuYmggBtKdmOdN8zJ2jmEc-6i9j3N-BrDJuJvqn4PuLnhum3S2N0DQ7CopUn-tq0z0-5GtlxI4jRHtbdiCDVclbbm76MBuZk4/s320/adina+exit.JPG" width="320" /></span></a>To me, this is what Yad Vashem is all about. Yad Vashem is about remembering what happened, and ensuring that it never happens again. To many victims of the Holocaust, this was their dying wish. I came across a quote on the Yad Vashem website that read, "I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger." In the Hall of Names, hanging in the dome are pictures of people who have been murdered. It does not show them in Auschwitz, it does not show them emaciated or behind barbed wire, but rather we get to see pictures of people smiling and laughing, some with family and friends, and living their lives. It is our responsibility to remember these people. To not only remember how they died, but also how they lived. And it just takes one person, remembering one person. Just one. And then we are one person closer to remembering the 1+1+1.<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2089. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/12/remembering-111.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oIykTmXlgzXZevVnWCt5lwX8o59ImQaySDai8gfwrZkcYXsbn8lFp2VLwukSt74GF19WGimaHOsHo84-5e9OaKQlTJpzfpriJmcaeW91q5f12XMyJ_sOURwfpEy8SXsIv1WNycSp2fI/s72-c/adina+headshot.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-513292019882238768</guid><pubDate>Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-12-10T13:44:40.826+02:00</atom:updated><title>A Mother&#39;s Desperate Plea for her Son </title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
2090. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2091. <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By: Michal Dror</span> </span><br />
2092. <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"></span><br />
2093. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">On the night of November 9-10, 1938, </span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/kristallnacht/index.asp"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: blue;">the </span><i><span style="color: blue;">Kristallnacht</span></i><span style="color: blue;">
2094. progrom</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> ("Night of the Broken Glass") raged throughout Germany
2095. and Austria.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2096. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2097.  
2098. </span><br />
2099. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><i>Kristallnacht</i> was launched in supposed retaliation for the
2100. assassination of a Nazi German embassy official in Paris, Ernst vom Rath, by a frustrated
2101. young Jewish refugee named Herschel Grynszpan. On November 9, yom Rath died of
2102. his injuries. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
2103. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2104.  
2105. </span><br />
2106. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Within hours, crazed rioting erupted on the streets of cities across the two
2107. Nazi-controlled countries. The shop windows of Jewish businesses were smashed,
2108. the stores looted, hundreds of synagogues and Jewish homes were burnt down and a
2109. large number of Jews were physically assaulted. Some 30,000 Jews, many of them
2110. wealthy and prominent members of their communities, were arrested and deported
2111. to the concentration camps at Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Buchenwald, where they
2112. were subjected to inhumane and brutal treatment – some even died. During the
2113. pogrom itself, some 90 Jews were murdered.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2114. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2115.  
2116. </span><br />
2117. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">One of the Jewish men arrested was 28-year-old David Buchweitz from <span style="background: white; color: #252525;">Fürth, Germany, who was placed in "protective
2118. custody" at Buchenwald.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
2119. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2120.  
2121. </span><br />
2122. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="background: white; color: #252525;">As his personal prisoner's file
2123. from Buchenwald indicates, David was admitted to the camp on </span>November
2124. 13, 1938. Like other prisoners in the concentration camps, David had to sign
2125. several forms, such as a card listing the personal belongings taken away from
2126. him when he entered the camp (see the image below).</span></span> </div>
2127. <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"></span><br />
2128. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2129. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWffsmLSUrqtIv4sskT_JP9GULP2EZSJFcT7S2Lo2O6E-S_mJUrkgSTkPNbeNhWK8urRxIuffTCoeTGg4R0vtOceyTEoKloVDZc6KhpoP7-GuyGDjuI1yQYUm_hBOotEVwmSVyBqfgCA/s1600/5627599_0_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWffsmLSUrqtIv4sskT_JP9GULP2EZSJFcT7S2Lo2O6E-S_mJUrkgSTkPNbeNhWK8urRxIuffTCoeTGg4R0vtOceyTEoKloVDZc6KhpoP7-GuyGDjuI1yQYUm_hBOotEVwmSVyBqfgCA/s400/5627599_0_1.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">After the pogrom was over, the Nazis continued with severe anti-Jewish
2130. measures. The Aryanization process of seizing Jewish property was intensified;
2131. the Jewish community was forced to pay a fine of one billion Reichsmarks, and the Germans set up a
2132. Central Office for Jewish Emigration (Zenstralstelle fuer Juedische
2133. Auswanderung) to "encourage" the Jews to leave the country. The Nazis
2134. conditioned the release of the incarcerated Jewish men upon their
2135. immediate emigration from Germany.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2136. <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">
2137. </span><br />
2138. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2139. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0eILkgW-Qnwy26YTGzuJ2tAkvvm1Y8X_nQhKsBp5PfFKlpKOYAlWrq0o6b8Dc1B_q_qyY6Oe7C1f5nq2Jac4RLAcBUBfwSa3HYp2AmFY-qs_r295tOu83PBsxfWSFFQaYAAPfl6j6Xqc/s1600/5627600_0_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0eILkgW-Qnwy26YTGzuJ2tAkvvm1Y8X_nQhKsBp5PfFKlpKOYAlWrq0o6b8Dc1B_q_qyY6Oe7C1f5nq2Jac4RLAcBUBfwSa3HYp2AmFY-qs_r295tOu83PBsxfWSFFQaYAAPfl6j6Xqc/s400/5627600_0_1.jpg" width="281" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Acquiring a visa for emigration was a tiring, almost impossible process, as
2140. the quotas for Jewish immigrants to foreign countries were minimal to the
2141. extreme. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
2142. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2143.  
2144. </span><br />
2145. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Like many Jewish families during this time, David's mother, Malka, was
2146. extremely frightened for her family and immediately began the process of obtaining
2147. visas to the United States, where the family had relatives. She wrote a letter
2148. to the camp's commandants begging for David's release. Eventually Malka
2149. succeeded in getting the desired papers for only one visa to the US. David was
2150. released from Buchenwald on April 12, 1939, and managed to emigrate.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2151. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2152.  
2153. </span><br />
2154. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">In November 2015, 77 years after <i>Kristallnacht</i>, David's son, Frank,
2155. submitted an inquiry to Yad Vashem regarding Malka's fate.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2156. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2157.  
2158. </span><br />
2159. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">In research conducted by Yad Vashem's Reference and Information Services
2160. Department in the Archives Division, David's personal documents from Buchenwald
2161. were found.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2162. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2163.  
2164. </span><br />
2165. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Among them was his mother's desperate plea for his release.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2166. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2167.  
2168. </span><br />
2169. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Like many other German Jewish women, Malka stayed behind. Malka Buchweitz née
2170. Knoebel (b. 1879) was most likely deported to her death in 1942.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2171. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2172.  
2173. </span><br />
2174. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Her handwritten letter is all that is remains.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
2175.  
2176.  
2177. </span><br />
2178.  </div>
2179. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-mothers-desperate-plea-for-her-son.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWffsmLSUrqtIv4sskT_JP9GULP2EZSJFcT7S2Lo2O6E-S_mJUrkgSTkPNbeNhWK8urRxIuffTCoeTGg4R0vtOceyTEoKloVDZc6KhpoP7-GuyGDjuI1yQYUm_hBOotEVwmSVyBqfgCA/s72-c/5627599_0_1.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-6404677889214707211</guid><pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2015 11:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-12-16T11:48:55.522+02:00</atom:updated><title>My Father Kept a Cape in His Closet</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
2180. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2181. <em><b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">"My father must have had a cape hanging in his closet. He was not
2182. a superhero, but when he needed to, he put that cape on."</span></b></em></div>
2183. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2184. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
2185. <span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"></span><br />
2186. </span></span><br />
2187. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2188. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, of the 422<sup>nd</sup>
2189. Infantry Regiment in the US Armed Forces, passed away in 1985. Pastor Chris
2190. Edmonds, his younger son, recalls that his father didn't speak much about his
2191. wartime experiences. As a young adult, Chris found out that his father had
2192. spent time as a POW, but little else was revealed. It was only when one of
2193. Chris' daughters undertook a project at college to create a video about a
2194. family member that his mother, Roddie's wife, handed her granddaughter a diary
2195. Roddie had kept during his imprisonment at Stalag IXA. She also revealed a
2196. brief account of parts of his life that Roddie had written before he died.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2197. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2198. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2199.  
2200. </span><br />
2201. </span></span><br />
2202. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2203. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2204. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-E0jbfDWrXN7oz_ZSn-ez8jc16Xvl13_mWzWiStgjzQ1KdDa04GuVzPdF-04DcRYtagSbIAX9oXaBr_t5whgZcyRkwlEWlqIjnrL_MQtsTZk-6EpShrI3z_1NDIycM0zbcT-CE4hNqk/s1600/Master+Sgt+Roddie+W.+Edmonds-WWII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-E0jbfDWrXN7oz_ZSn-ez8jc16Xvl13_mWzWiStgjzQ1KdDa04GuVzPdF-04DcRYtagSbIAX9oXaBr_t5whgZcyRkwlEWlqIjnrL_MQtsTZk-6EpShrI3z_1NDIycM0zbcT-CE4hNqk/s320/Master+Sgt+Roddie+W.+Edmonds-WWII.jpg" width="277" /></a></div>
2205. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Chris was "blown away. How could I not have been
2206. aware of my father's wartime activities? I stayed up that night conducting
2207. searches on the Internet to see what else I could find out about him." The
2208. first item to pop up was a journalistic piece concerning a property deal
2209. between ex-President Richard Nixon and Lester Tanner, in which Master Sergeant
2210. Roddie Edmonds was mentioned. When Chris and Lester finally made contact, Chris
2211. heard the story of how Roddie had saved the lives of his fellow Jewish POWs,
2212. and how this one act of incredible bravery had become a lifelong inspiration for
2213. Tanner and many other of his fellow soldiers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2214. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2215. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2216.  
2217. </span><br />
2218. </span></span><br />
2219. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2220. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Roddie's Code<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
2221. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2222. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2223.  
2224. </span><br />
2225. </span></span><br />
2226. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2227. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2228. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1QbefJBDsPySVxmL5MV8tmh4jsKNvLKowgGh5SZBNZOcuyaZt6FGFADz2twltpNPx88QbLHa4zUo3ua5wYkUCvw7qtX39BU6cFruU6nMgp7J_JxN_mDmXmskNWmxXjpXFNVqxitUIEz0/s1600/Master+Sgt+Roddie+W.+Edmonds-WWII-Field+Pic+with+Men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1QbefJBDsPySVxmL5MV8tmh4jsKNvLKowgGh5SZBNZOcuyaZt6FGFADz2twltpNPx88QbLHa4zUo3ua5wYkUCvw7qtX39BU6cFruU6nMgp7J_JxN_mDmXmskNWmxXjpXFNVqxitUIEz0/s400/Master+Sgt+Roddie+W.+Edmonds-WWII-Field+Pic+with+Men.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
2229. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the US army, Master
2230. Sergeant Roddie Edmonds of Knoxville, TN participated in the landing of the
2231. American forces in Europe. Taken prisoner by the Germans during the Battle of
2232. the Bulge, Edmonds was interned at Stalag IXA, a POW camp near Ziegenhain, Germany.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2233. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2234. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2235.  
2236. </span><br />
2237. </span></span><br />
2238. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2239. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Wehrmacht had a strict anti-Jewish policy, singling
2240. out Jewish POWs from the rest of the POW population and then murdering them or
2241. sending them to extermination camps. In January 1945, the Germans announced
2242. that all Jewish POWs in Stalag IXA were to report the following morning.
2243. Edmonds, who was the highest NCO at the camp, and therefore in charge of the
2244. prisoners, ordered all the POWs – Jews and non-Jews alike – to follow the order.
2245. When the German officer, Major Siegmann, saw all the camp’s inmates
2246. standing in front of their barracks, he turned to Edmonds and exclaimed: “They cannot
2247. all be Jews!” To this Edmonds replied: “We are all Jews.” Siegmann took out his
2248. pistol and threatened Edmonds, but the Master Sergeant did not waver and
2249. retorted: “According to the Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name,
2250. rank and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and
2251. after the war you will be tried for war crimes.” The officer turned around
2252. and left the scene. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2253. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2254. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2255.  
2256. </span><br />
2257. </span></span><br />
2258. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2259. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One witness to the exchange was Lester Tanner, who was
2260. also captured during the Battle of the Bulge and interned at Stalag IXA. Tanner
2261. had been inducted into military service in March 1943, and trained in Fort
2262. Jackson, where Master Sergeant Edmonds was stationed. Tanner remembered Edmonds
2263. well from his training period: “He did not throw his rank around. You knew he
2264. knew his stuff and he got across to you without being arrogant or
2265. inconsiderate. I admired him for his command… We were in combat on the front
2266. lines for only a short period, but it was clear that Roddie Edmonds was a man
2267. of great courage who led his men with the same capacity we had come to know him
2268. in the States.” Tanner told Yad Vashem that they were well aware that the
2269. Germans were murdering the Jews, and that therefore they understood that the
2270. order to separate the Jews from the other POWs meant that the Jews were in
2271. great danger. “Over one thousand Americans stood in wide formation in front of
2272. the barracks behind Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds… The US Army’s standing
2273. command to its ranking officers in POW camps is that you resist the enemy and
2274. care for the safety of your men to the greatest extent possible. Master
2275. Sergeant Edmonds, at the risk of his immediate death, defied the Germans with
2276. the unexpected consequences that the Jewish prisoners were saved.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2277. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2278. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2279.  
2280. </span><br />
2281. </span></span><br />
2282. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2283. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A Lifelong Inspiration<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></div>
2284. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2285. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2286.  
2287. </span><br />
2288. </span></span><br />
2289. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2290. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In early 2015 the late Roddie Edmonds was recognized as
2291. Righteous Among the Nations. Of more than 26,000 "Righteous"
2292. recognized to date, Edmonds is only the fifth United States citizen, and first
2293. American soldier, to be bestowed with this highest of honors bestowed by Yad
2294. Vashem on behalf of the State of Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2295. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2296. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2297.  
2298. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br />
2299. <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pastor Chris is currently participating in a seminar
2300. for Christian leaders at the International School for Holocaust Studies. This
2301. is his first trip to Israel, and one that comes at a time when his personal
2302. family story is likely to become a national, if not international, sensation.
2303. The account of his father's heroic actions that Pastor Chris has painstakingly
2304. discovered over recent years reads like a fictionalized Hollywood movie. But it
2305. is all true, and has been a source of inspiration for both Pastor Chris and the
2306. survivors his father saved for the past 70 years. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
2307. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2308.  
2309. </span><br />
2310. </span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2311. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQm2Py4pngG9VGnCi7xW-qnEcao-5a6JH0H4r8zquwSpz6olEm3MPtNlJ4nkhv-XS_QnDauEmBQAlXrP5VqvR2fINXlniQ9UB7xvPCplisV4Uo8iWi1SjwyGVgANmdh5Wvx0rFNkM_KL4/s1600/Master+Sgt+Roddie+W.+Edmonds-WWII-Camp+Atterbury+Indiana-Front+Row+2nd+from+Left.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQm2Py4pngG9VGnCi7xW-qnEcao-5a6JH0H4r8zquwSpz6olEm3MPtNlJ4nkhv-XS_QnDauEmBQAlXrP5VqvR2fINXlniQ9UB7xvPCplisV4Uo8iWi1SjwyGVgANmdh5Wvx0rFNkM_KL4/s320/Master+Sgt+Roddie+W.+Edmonds-WWII-Camp+Atterbury+Indiana-Front+Row+2nd+from+Left.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"My father always had a strong sense of duty, of
2312. responsibility to his fellow human being, whoever they were," says Pastor
2313. Chris. "He was a man of great religious faith and an unwavering moral code
2314. and set of values to which he was completely dedicated. From my conversations
2315. with his comrades, it is clear he was also a strong commander, leading by
2316. example and taking personal risks in order to safeguard others."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2317. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
2318. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2319.  
2320. </span><br />
2321. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2322. <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Since discovering the story, Pastor Chris has made
2323. relentless efforts to contact all the names of his father's fellow POWs
2324. painstakingly recorded in his wartime diary. "Many of these have led to
2325. meetings and lifelong friendships with people I could never have imagined:
2326. senators and congressmen, survivors and their families – and even the rabbi of
2327. a local synagogue. Who could have imagined a Baptist preacher and a rabbi
2328. becoming such fast friends?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
2329. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2330.  
2331. </span><br />
2332. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2333. <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pastor Chris is currently working on having his father
2334. be awarded a Medal of Honor – <span style="background: white;">the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>USA's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>highest<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>military honor, a<span style="background: white;">warded for personal acts of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>valor <span style="background: white;">above and beyond the call of duty. And when he speaks to young students,
2335. Pastor Chris tells them that his father "must have had a cape hanging in
2336. his closet.</span> My father was not a  superhero, but when he needed to, he put
2337. that cape on. You too have a cape: if you are witness to an injustice, you can
2338. choose to ignore it, or to intercede. We all have the power to influence
2339. others, and if we invest in this way of life, in making the right decisions, we
2340. too can make a tremendous difference in this world."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
2341. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2342.  
2343. </span><br />
2344. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2345. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
2346. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2347. <b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">More information about the Righteous Among the
2348. Nations, including background, stories and the Database of Righteous, can be
2349. found <a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/search.html?language=en"><span style="color: #0563c1;">online</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><u><span style="color: #0563c1;"> here</span></u></span>. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
2350. <span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
2351.  
2352. </span></span> </span><br />
2353. <br />
2354. <br />
2355. <br /></div>
2356. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/12/my-father-kept-cape-in-his-closet.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-E0jbfDWrXN7oz_ZSn-ez8jc16Xvl13_mWzWiStgjzQ1KdDa04GuVzPdF-04DcRYtagSbIAX9oXaBr_t5whgZcyRkwlEWlqIjnrL_MQtsTZk-6EpShrI3z_1NDIycM0zbcT-CE4hNqk/s72-c/Master+Sgt+Roddie+W.+Edmonds-WWII.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>6</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-9090046701492819152</guid><pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2015 11:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-12-03T09:29:34.726+02:00</atom:updated><title>Rywka&#39;s Diary to be restored and preserved at Yad Vashem</title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; dir=&quot;LTR&quot; style=&quot;direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;&quot;&gt;
2357. <span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was a very emotional
2358. meeting today at the Yad Vashem Archives as Yad Vashem staff met with relatives,
2359. friends, researchers and historians who have been investigating the fate of 14-year-old
2360. Rywka Lipszyc. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2361. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2362. <span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span> </div>
2363. <div dir="LTR" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
2364. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Born in 1929 to a rabbinical family,
2365. Rwyka, kept a diary while she was incarcerated in the Lodz ghetto. When her
2366. parents and siblings were murdered, Rywka spent the remainder of the war with
2367. her cousins, Mina and Esther Lipszyc. After surviving the hunger of the Lodz
2368. ghetto, the horrors of Auschwitz and a grueling death march, the three cousins
2369. arrived at Bergen Belsen, weak and very sick. Esther last saw Rywka on her
2370. deathbed in the hospital ward. She and Mina slowly recuperated in Sweden, but never
2371. heard from their cousin again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
2372. <div dir="LTR" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
2373. <br /></div>
2374. <div dir="LTR" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
2375. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, Rywka's diary had been
2376. eventually discovered in the ashes of the crematoria at
2377. Auschwitz-Birkenau in early 1945 by Zinaida Berezovskaya, a doctor who arrived
2378. at the camp with the liberating Red Army. The diary (in Polish, Yiddish and
2379. Hebrew) documented Rywka's daily life, along with her hopes, dreams and deepest
2380. emotions. Berezovskaya stored it in an envelope, along with a newspaper
2381. clipping about the liberation of Auschwitz. For over half a century it remained
2382. untouched, until Berezovskaya's granddaughter discovered it among her father's
2383. effects in June 1995 and was deposited in the archives of Holocaust Center of
2384. Northern California, (relocated in 2010 to Jewish Family and Children's
2385. Services (JFCS) to form the Holocaust Center in San Francisco)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
2386. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2387. <br /></div>
2388. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2389. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
2390. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-Re6lV0r0-ZmOC3OYsLCukhGkxXtqtozjDeNL7f03340hbHTbD50iN6Birycu5XF04IQvll875uwQ0DgNh4cYvepSXLcbzXNtr6GARol5s-4cmHeT45J97zASBSKr_7AyxPLUd5FOak/s1600/_MG_0793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-Re6lV0r0-ZmOC3OYsLCukhGkxXtqtozjDeNL7f03340hbHTbD50iN6Birycu5XF04IQvll875uwQ0DgNh4cYvepSXLcbzXNtr6GARol5s-4cmHeT45J97zASBSKr_7AyxPLUd5FOak/s320/_MG_0793.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
2391. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Varda Gross, Conservation Laboratory Director showing an <br />
2392. example of how Rywka's diary will be conserved </td></tr>
2393. </tbody></table>
2394. <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Judy Janec, archivist at the center immediately began to
2395. investigate the identity and fate of the diary's author, which ultimately led to
2396. the discovery the Page of Testimony commemorating Rywka submitted by Mina Boyer
2397. in 1955 (updated in 2000). Yad Vashem staff assisted by contacting Hadassah
2398. Halamish, Minsa's daughter. The family was deeply moved to learn of the
2399. diary's discovery so many years later.<span style="color: #444444;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2400. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2401. <br /></div>
2402. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2403. <span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Recently (Sept 3, 2015),
2404. the family donated the diary to Yad Vashem for preservation. This week, Rywka's
2405. cousin, Hadassah Halamish, visited Yad Vashem together with researcher Judy Janec, Anastasia Berezovskaya, the granddaughter of <span style="color: #444444;">Zinaida
2406. Berezovskaya</span>; Dr. Ewa Wiatr, an historian from Poland who specializes in
2407. research on the Lodz ghetto and who assisted in the translation and annotation
2408. of the diary from Polish to English, her 14 year old daughter Tosia; and
2409. friends hosting them in Israel. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
2410. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2411. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span> </div>
2412. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2413. <span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yad Vashem Archives
2414. Director Dr. Haim Gertner hosted a behind-the-scenes tour of the archival
2415. facilities and explained the process of how Rywka's diary will be repaired, carefully
2416. preserved, protected, and then digitized – in order to make it accessible to
2417. interested parties all over the world. It was a meaningful experience for everyone.
2418. Hadassah, who has a deep emotional and personal connection to the diary said,
2419. "I know that the diary is in the right place."<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></span></div>
2420. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2421. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
2422. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2423. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
2424. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGNDTq9E_NllUsxU0lG35XYmspE2qvwxdfH1zqfIlCHrR-AmoYn0NnlXIZ0g_baXyGfauflIYg0lmajk2pV9BPBRo6d21AVgdIPrFmq8JgqkdvCtAYEXtAG35O3_Ngq1FKR-lV7Kx-a4/s1600/_MG_0877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCGNDTq9E_NllUsxU0lG35XYmspE2qvwxdfH1zqfIlCHrR-AmoYn0NnlXIZ0g_baXyGfauflIYg0lmajk2pV9BPBRo6d21AVgdIPrFmq8JgqkdvCtAYEXtAG35O3_Ngq1FKR-lV7Kx-a4/s320/_MG_0877.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
2425. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Haim Gertner presenting Hadassah Halamish <br />
2426. with a digital copy of her cousin's diary</td></tr>
2427. </tbody></table>
2428. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2429. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2430. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
2431. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2432. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
2433. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2434. <span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Judy Janec agreed.
2435. "It feels redemptive to have the diary at Yad Vashem. It belongs in a
2436. repository that has the resources to preserve and make it accessible to the
2437. public. Now I know that it's safe. It is where it should be." According to
2438. a Displaced Persons registration card discovered through Judy Janec's research Rywka indicated
2439. that she would like to relocate/emigrate to "Eretz Israel" after she
2440. recuperated. "So now at least her diary is in Israel even if she couldn't
2441. be."</span></span></div>
2442. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2443. <span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
2444. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2445. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%;">Yad Vashem’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/gathering_fragments/index.asp" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #336699;">Gathering the
2446. Fragments</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"> </span></span>national campaign to rescue personal
2447. items from the Holocaust era is now continuing into its fifth year. The<span style="background: white; color: #333333;"> campaign encourages people with
2448. Holocaust related material in their possession to bring them to Yad Vashem,
2449. where they will be protected for posterity, along with the stories behind the
2450. items. Since the beginning of the program in 2011, some 165,000 items have been
2451. brought to Yad Vashem, including photos, documents and artifacts. People who
2452. want to donate material should email<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="mailto:collect@yadvashem.org.il"><span style="background: white; color: #336699;">collect@yadvashem.org.il</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">or call 02-644 3888. </span></span></div>
2453. <br />
2454. <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2455. <br /></div>
2456. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/11/rywkas-diary-to-be-restored-and.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1-Re6lV0r0-ZmOC3OYsLCukhGkxXtqtozjDeNL7f03340hbHTbD50iN6Birycu5XF04IQvll875uwQ0DgNh4cYvepSXLcbzXNtr6GARol5s-4cmHeT45J97zASBSKr_7AyxPLUd5FOak/s72-c/_MG_0793.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-5558968824070957833</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2015 11:45:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-11-23T15:56:46.395+02:00</atom:updated><title>Discovering New Family</title><description>&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;calibri&amp;quot;;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
2457. <div class="MsoCommentText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2458. <span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span class="MsoCommentReference"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">This is yet</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> another incredible and unexpected story of a family
2459. reunited as a result of documentation found in Yad Vashem's Archives. Pages of Testimony
2460. are an excellent tool in filling in the missing pieces of family histories and uniting
2461. a family that was dispersed because of the Holocaust.</span></span></div>
2462. <br />
2463. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2464. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Valery Simonov, who lives in Pinsk, Belarus,
2465. recently began looking for information about the father he never knew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>What he discovered was so much more,
2466. including a half-sister living here in Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2467. <br />
2468. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
2469. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69il6hJH1EA-P5hXZKbAHqWNpYVBYhdmagBP7hN5fLCLG0Hir7S1WVLCYYzlXsetX1qRtKyEMRvg65jAgvWIQgarcHGCdcZCRVzYudlbPWj2A3V9d_AJGawhR417lgFEwGN_2vVjjM84/s1600/IMG_1685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69il6hJH1EA-P5hXZKbAHqWNpYVBYhdmagBP7hN5fLCLG0Hir7S1WVLCYYzlXsetX1qRtKyEMRvg65jAgvWIQgarcHGCdcZCRVzYudlbPWj2A3V9d_AJGawhR417lgFEwGN_2vVjjM84/s320/IMG_1685.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
2470. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Valery and Dalia holding family pictures</td></tr>
2471. </tbody></table>
2472. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2473. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Growing up, Valery's mother, Olga
2474. Simonov, never spoke about who his father was or that he left her when she was
2475. pregnant. When Valery was born his mother named him Valery Volfovich Simonov - a
2476. combination of her name and his father's name, Wolf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Around a year and a half ago Valery discovered
2477. from Svetlana, a family friend who helped raise him, that his father's surname
2478. was Sternik. Valery proceeded to reach out to Yad Vashem and requested
2479. information about his father, Wolf Sternik. Rita Margolin a researcher in Yad
2480. Vashem's Reference and Information Services Department, searched for Wolf's name in the
2481. Yad Vashem archival documents from Pinsk. With the help of Pages of Testimony
2482. and other documentation Rita was able to find out what had happened to Wolf
2483. Sternik during the war, and later discovered from Svetlana's friend, Rima that Wolf had remarried and
2484. had a daughter, Dalia, who currently lives in Jerusalem. Neither Dalia nor
2485. Valery knew about the other.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2486. <br />
2487. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2488. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Wolf Sternik, a journalist, was born
2489. in Dabrowa Gornicza. He fled with his family from Warsaw to Pinsk in 1939 and later
2490. in 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, escaped to Kazakhstan. His
2491. first wife, Rachel, and son, Pawel, were murdered in Pinsk; his mother and
2492. sister were murdered in Western Ukraine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
2493. </span>Wolf returned to Pinsk in 1945 with Olga Simonov and her two children. Later
2494. that year, Wolf left for Poland while Simonov, who was pregnant at the time stayed
2495. in Pinsk where Valery was born in 1946.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2496. <br />
2497. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
2498. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02O_CUQusM_L07zuVbwVshbYYh5ljbKe64BtW_KNYGGCPRC9Eo4yPIqIQbFI05yGyRUWKA_Vx2lcNILlSxaW5aeXW93Nsw6yoJMDM2rdiA9yzVDv1tvo0eMgWmjLuKjdqiEtSRjgzO00/s1600/IMG_1676.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02O_CUQusM_L07zuVbwVshbYYh5ljbKe64BtW_KNYGGCPRC9Eo4yPIqIQbFI05yGyRUWKA_Vx2lcNILlSxaW5aeXW93Nsw6yoJMDM2rdiA9yzVDv1tvo0eMgWmjLuKjdqiEtSRjgzO00/s320/IMG_1676.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
2499. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Haim Gertner and Rita Margolin reading archival documents<br />
2500. with information about the siblings</td></tr>
2501. </tbody></table>
2502. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2503. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Once in Poland, Wolf married and had
2504. a daughter Dalia. Dalia and her mother moved to Israel in 1957 leaving Wolf
2505. behind in Poland where he lived until his death in 1993. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2506. <br />
2507. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2508. <span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Upon discovering that Valery has a
2509. half-sister, Rita contacted Dalia immediately to tell her the exciting news. The
2510. next day Dalia visited Yad Vashem and Rita showed her all the documentation she
2511. had uncovered about Dalia's father. Dalia also had numerous documents left to
2512. her by her father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>After receiving additional information from Dalia, Rita found in the</span> </span><a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/names/search.html?language=en"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">Central Database of Shoah Victims'
2513. Names</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Pages of
2514. Testimony filled out by Wolf Sternik in 1980. Rita also found relevant
2515. documents about other family members.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2516. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
2517. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YBii4Yz8Wt3wSot4lxa4qPhzYZWbsNjDPaEtq3oJ4bjTK6AnmY1PwxIwB7CaomnDR6JU6-wwo6chy4i9srzSNLnDW-WaIxwuUrE3fb5TFRNv2aP9yODlHFlKKxPizmiurygsOLtEX_o/s1600/IMG_1690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YBii4Yz8Wt3wSot4lxa4qPhzYZWbsNjDPaEtq3oJ4bjTK6AnmY1PwxIwB7CaomnDR6JU6-wwo6chy4i9srzSNLnDW-WaIxwuUrE3fb5TFRNv2aP9yODlHFlKKxPizmiurygsOLtEX_o/s320/IMG_1690.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
2518. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rita, Dalia, Valery and Tamara at Yad Vashem Archives</td></tr>
2519. </tbody></table>
2520. <br />
2521. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2522. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">As for the news about her
2523. half-brother, Dalia was skeptical at first. However, after an initial meeting
2524. on Skype, Dalia saw an unmisktable familial resemblance and realized that they were relatives. Both
2525. siblings even had the same photo of their father that they had both saved over the
2526. years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2527. <br />
2528. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2529. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Shortly after their Skype meeting, Dalia
2530. travelled to Pinsk to meet Valery for the first time in person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>At the end of their week together, she
2531. invited him to come visit her in Israel. During their emotional meeting at Yad
2532. Vashem, an overjoyed Valery exclaimed that he was "so excited to be
2533. here with Dalia and still can't believe that something like this could
2534. happen." <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2535. <br />
2536. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2537. <span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
2538. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/11/discovering-new-family.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi69il6hJH1EA-P5hXZKbAHqWNpYVBYhdmagBP7hN5fLCLG0Hir7S1WVLCYYzlXsetX1qRtKyEMRvg65jAgvWIQgarcHGCdcZCRVzYudlbPWj2A3V9d_AJGawhR417lgFEwGN_2vVjjM84/s72-c/IMG_1685.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-1438852156192085136</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2015 10:37:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-11-10T12:50:42.997+02:00</atom:updated><title>Check out the New York Times article featuring a photo from the Yad Vashem Archives</title><description>&lt;span style=&quot;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/23px georgia, &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, times, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;&quot;&gt;Among the pictures in Yad Vashem&#39;s extensive &lt;a href=&quot;http://collections1.yadvashem.org/search.asp?lang=ENG&amp;amp;rsvr=7&quot;&gt;Photo Archive&lt;/a&gt; is one dated July 1945.&amp;nbsp;Alan Golub,&amp;nbsp;donated the&amp;nbsp;photo of a group of young Hungarian women, whom he helped clothe,&amp;nbsp;to &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/en-us/43927.html&quot; style=&quot;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #326891; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/23px georgia, &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, times, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;&quot;&gt;Yad Vashem&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/23px georgia, &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, times, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-converted-space&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;in 1999 with the women&#39;s names carefully&amp;nbsp;written on the back.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;He also donated a thank-you note he received from the women. Read their story in today&#39;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/nyregion/a-pilot-and-holocaust-survivors-bound-by-the-fabric-of-war-are-reunited-in-brooklyn.html?hp&amp;amp;action=click&amp;amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;amp;module=mini-moth&amp;amp;region=top-stories-below&amp;amp;WT.nav=top-stories-below&amp;amp;_r=1&quot;&gt;New York Times.&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
2539. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2540. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfSsQWPwidMf1njGpH4BIJLssawLbvy6YbqG87roLIpLEklpQlbRFZly0BinOVcbx9YzILGCkJRBUO5nW2daBz2iXOEViQkFFFpvXiU2m3T_fg9gCcquzyn86ClHjn23EW4TrzeHzHOys/s1600/1277_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfSsQWPwidMf1njGpH4BIJLssawLbvy6YbqG87roLIpLEklpQlbRFZly0BinOVcbx9YzILGCkJRBUO5nW2daBz2iXOEViQkFFFpvXiU2m3T_fg9gCcquzyn86ClHjn23EW4TrzeHzHOys/s400/1277_1.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS7dKkyjwFFqt8G6bML0zR2tCV81zuiBIr75rw0QDInS6xrXVQ4Cf_BQ1N3whnjNLfZZZIEGRJa2eLvh3jcjMDcpgfHWOmYEvl1zPLhyphenhyphenWPk9lHXUiZoK5aeVoND7L0vdtL1ZkQVfdrhI/s1600/1277_1%2523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS7dKkyjwFFqt8G6bML0zR2tCV81zuiBIr75rw0QDInS6xrXVQ4Cf_BQ1N3whnjNLfZZZIEGRJa2eLvh3jcjMDcpgfHWOmYEvl1zPLhyphenhyphenWPk9lHXUiZoK5aeVoND7L0vdtL1ZkQVfdrhI/s400/1277_1%2523.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
2541. <br />
2542. &lt;span style=&quot;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/23px georgia, &amp;quot;times new roman&amp;quot;, times, serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;</description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/11/check-out-new-york-times-article.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfSsQWPwidMf1njGpH4BIJLssawLbvy6YbqG87roLIpLEklpQlbRFZly0BinOVcbx9YzILGCkJRBUO5nW2daBz2iXOEViQkFFFpvXiU2m3T_fg9gCcquzyn86ClHjn23EW4TrzeHzHOys/s72-c/1277_1.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-1636363249648553516</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2015 14:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-11-08T13:00:49.676+02:00</atom:updated><title>&quot;My Mission: To Film and to Record&quot;</title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
2543. <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2544. <b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Interview with Rex Bloomstein<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
2545. <br />
2546. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2547. </div>
2548. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2549. <span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Just before his execution in 1941, the famous
2550. Jewish historian Simon Dubnow told his fellow inmates in the Riga ghetto '<i><span style="background: white;">Yidn, shraybt un farshraybt</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span style="background: white;">(</span></span><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-language: JI;">Jews</span></span><span lang="HE" style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">‎</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">, write and record).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">' My life's mission has been 'Film and Record.'"</span></span><br />
2551. <span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span> </div>
2552. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2553. </div>
2554. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2555. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">So explained acclaimed British documentary film-maker
2556. Rex Bloomstein at a fascinating lecture yesterday in Yad Vashem's <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/visual_center/index.asp" target="_blank">Visual Center</a>, </span> as he took
2557. the audience through a journey of his epic career spanning over three decades.
2558. Beginning his profession with the BBC, Bloomstein has to date created over 150
2559. films, TV documentaries and series, including the trilogy<i> The Longest Hatred</i>
2560. (1989) <span style="color: black;">charting the unique history of antisemitism
2561. and its manifestation in modern society</span>; <i><a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/films/item.html?language=en&itemId=83514" target="_blank">Auschwitz and the Allies</a></i>
2562. (1982), investigating <span style="color: black;">how much the Allies knew of the
2563. greatest death camp in history</span>; and <i><a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/films/item.html?language=en&itemId=5883483" target="_blank">KZ</a></i> – <span style="color: black;">an
2564. award-winning film described as 'the first post-modern Holocaust documentary,'
2565. and nominee for the first Yad Vashem Chairman's Award in Holocaust-related film
2566. ten years ago.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
2567.  </div>
2568. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2569. </div>
2570. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2571. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Bloomstein has been at Yad Vashem for the past week,
2572. hard at work in the Visual Center and Archives, undertaking painstaking
2573. research for his upcoming film about the Second World War ("I can't tell
2574. you more than that at this point. I don't want to risk sabotaging the
2575. project"). Calling Yad Vashem "an institute of immense
2576. importance," Bloomstein emphasized the "vital role" played by
2577. the Visual Center – the world's largest repository of Holocaust-related films
2578. in all genres. "Film plays a crucial role in examining, exploring and
2579. confronting the Holocaust," Bloomstein stated. "Over 5,500 films have
2580. been made about the event since the Eichmann Trials in the early 1960s, and the
2581. explosion of interest in the Holocaust continues to the present day." </span></span></div>
2582. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2583.  </div>
2584. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2585.  </div>
2586. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
2587. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOGFxL2NOB-wDJN662li042MsIqXwL3pasGcZW8IrtZhAX2EEgEscK1uuTijBVQSYqQe7s9bTqqBZ3ny8ky5YCtRh2GWmQC0xK73wl5t27dhR11f1P_t7KLjv8MKZ2kTwnRVJzzc2k8Q/s1600/bloomstein-vis2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOGFxL2NOB-wDJN662li042MsIqXwL3pasGcZW8IrtZhAX2EEgEscK1uuTijBVQSYqQe7s9bTqqBZ3ny8ky5YCtRh2GWmQC0xK73wl5t27dhR11f1P_t7KLjv8MKZ2kTwnRVJzzc2k8Q/s320/bloomstein-vis2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
2588. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">
2589.  
2590. </span><br />
2591. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2592. <span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rex
2593. Bloomstein in the Yad Vashem Visual Center<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2594. <span style="font-size: small;">
2595.  
2596. </span></td></tr>
2597. </tbody></table>
2598. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2599. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">During his stay, Bloomstein "took advantage of the
2600. level of scholarship at Yad Vashem, conversing with a number of experts in
2601. their fields, such as Liat [Benhabib, Director of the Visual Center] and Efrat
2602. [Komisar, Head of the Footage Section in the Archives Division], who have
2603. dedicated their lives to furthering our knowledge of the Shoah." <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2604. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2605.  </div>
2606. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2607.  </div>
2608. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2609. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The presentation, part of an enrichment program for
2610. Yad Vashem guides, took the audience through Bloomstein's changing perspectives
2611. and styles of Holocaust film-making over the years. From the "traditional
2612. elements" of interviews, music, footage and images, such as in <i><a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/films/item.html?language=en&itemId=3859867" target="_blank">The Longest Hatred</a></i> and <i><a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/films/item.html?language=en&itemId=83514" target="_blank">Auschwitz and the Allies</a></i>, in the 1990s Bloomstein
2613. endeavored to "pare down his technique" when he and the late Robert
2614. Wistrich created "Lessons of the Holocaust" – a 60 minute video as
2615. part of an educational pack for UK secondary schools – as well as in <i><a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/films/item.html?language=en&itemId=5261543" target="_blank">Liberation</a></i>,
2616. a documentary he produced to mark 50 years since the end of WWII. <i>Liberation</i>
2617. features one particular interview with a former American GI, who was extremely
2618. distressed as he recounted his first impressions on entering the Ordruf
2619. concentration camp. "I was not interested in manipulating feelings with
2620. music and images," Bloomstein explained. "I continued to try to
2621. remove as many barriers as possible between the viewer and the event." </span></span></div>
2622. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2623.  </div>
2624. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2625.  </div>
2626. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2627. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlkBaou4R67l5GgSG5p7u9opgaQqulh_s43KmecAIredRaErMoqiHQcXWoljeP1O6pRR1inqFjJNapxHUOD5FM-rZYXlL6RAWBH2QPHPMuztYisEN5L13d6ADkZqf2BXoN9QMibvHz_w/s1600/KZ+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlkBaou4R67l5GgSG5p7u9opgaQqulh_s43KmecAIredRaErMoqiHQcXWoljeP1O6pRR1inqFjJNapxHUOD5FM-rZYXlL6RAWBH2QPHPMuztYisEN5L13d6ADkZqf2BXoN9QMibvHz_w/s320/KZ+poster.jpg" width="222" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Indeed, it is the belief in this vital component of
2628. witness testimonies that had led Bloomstein at the beginning of the previous
2629. decade to film <i>Gathering</i>, a seemingly haphazard and dizzying recording
2630. of the first world assembly of Holocaust survivors in Jerusalem and the media
2631. frenzy that surrounded it. "These were witnesses to a universe almost
2632. beyond belief and understanding," said Bloomstein. "They needed no
2633. narration to tell their story. I let them speak for themselves."</span></span></div>
2634. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2635.  </div>
2636. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2637.  </div>
2638. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2639. <span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In 2005, Bloomstein released <i><a href="http://db.yadvashem.org/films/item.html?language=en&itemId=5883483" target="_blank">KZ</a></i>, a
2640. feature-length film<span style="color: black;"> exploring the legacy of Austria’s
2641. Mauthausen concentration camp and its impact on visitors and residents today.
2642. Guides take tourists through the appalling history of the camp, while mere
2643. kilometers away the locals enjoy a few pints at the local beer garden.
2644. Noticeably absent are any survivor testimonies. "This film is about the
2645. interface between then and now," explained Bloomstein. "It is set in
2646. the landscape of the concentration camp but it is a film about today, and the
2647. task we face of continuing to find new ways to inform the next generation about
2648. what happened when the survivors will not be around to tell their story.</span></span><span style="color: black;">"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2649. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2650. </div>
2651. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2652. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";">  </span></o:p></span></div>
2653. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2654. </div>
2655. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2656. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></o:p></span></div>
2657. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/11/my-mission-to-film-and-to-record.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOGFxL2NOB-wDJN662li042MsIqXwL3pasGcZW8IrtZhAX2EEgEscK1uuTijBVQSYqQe7s9bTqqBZ3ny8ky5YCtRh2GWmQC0xK73wl5t27dhR11f1P_t7KLjv8MKZ2kTwnRVJzzc2k8Q/s72-c/bloomstein-vis2.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-6376539888142911066</guid><pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2015 11:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-10-28T08:56:07.527+02:00</atom:updated><title>David Cesarani (1956-2015)</title><description>&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
2658. <strong>"A Scholar of Tremendous Depth and Breadth"</strong> </div>
2659. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2660. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dr.
2661. Robert Rozett</span></div>
2662. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2663. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Director
2664. of the Libraries, Yad Vashem<o:p></o:p></span></div>
2665. <br />
2666. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2667. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Yesterday
2668. evening, I heard the sad news that my dear friend and colleague Professor David
2669. Cesarani of Royal Holloway in London had passed away unexpectedly. David was a
2670. scholar of tremendous depth and breadth, great brilliance and remarkable
2671. eloquence. It often seemed to me that having had the privilege to study with
2672. the great George Mosse (as I had), David had learned one of the most important
2673. tasks of the historian: to deflate myths and replace them with well-grounded
2674. and well-stated historical narrative and analysis.</span></div>
2675. <br />
2676. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2677. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
2678. is not by chance that his two most important scholarly projects about the
2679. Holocaust reflected all of those qualities. His book <i>Eichmann: His Life and
2680. His Crimes</i>, published in 2004 presented a more historically accurate
2681. portrait of Eichmann, removing him from the clouds of partial truth and
2682. contradictory images that had emerged from his trial in Israel in the early
2683. 1960s. Eichmann was neither the master mind of the Holocaust nor a mundane desk
2684. bureaucrat only following orders. David drew a more complex portrait of the
2685. man, and no less important, he set him in the context of events that led to the
2686. unfolding and carrying out of the "Final Solution" against the Jews.
2687. He showed that Eichmann was not a decision maker, but certainly had initiative.
2688. He revealed that the man changed over the course of the war, from a gung-ho
2689. young officer to a rather jaded murderer. Throughout the book, David provided
2690. the historical envelope, harnessing the most up-to-date understanding of the
2691. events of the Holocaust available at the time he wrote.<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2692. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
2693. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY0UQfQOMzuu-upaCVVV6R2HtQrC1AgFuoYfd-lSfWpCMZKDFWFj65LrLe-0y0mT0mpqNdOT6xO5PwpYqnWglrggdUAcJG2PvkS_67zaJOypCsGtmC7u0tZezg4BH0UKs3TYYzzCHY19E/s1600/2006_01270067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY0UQfQOMzuu-upaCVVV6R2HtQrC1AgFuoYfd-lSfWpCMZKDFWFj65LrLe-0y0mT0mpqNdOT6xO5PwpYqnWglrggdUAcJG2PvkS_67zaJOypCsGtmC7u0tZezg4BH0UKs3TYYzzCHY19E/s320/2006_01270067.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
2694. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professor Cesarani at a Yad Vashem workshop in 2010</td></tr>
2695. </tbody></table>
2696. <br />
2697. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2698. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Over
2699. the last two years or so, David was engaged in another project that demanded
2700. depth and breadth of knowledge. He wrote a one-volume history of the Holocaust
2701. that remained unpublished at the time of his passing. Last year David asked me
2702. to read the manuscript and comment on it. What I read revealed an encyclopedic
2703. knowledge of the Holocaust and the most recent writing about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Moreover, David tried to ensure that his
2704. narrative closely followed the events of WWII. To do so, he read scores of
2705. diaries and memoirs of leading figures and less well-known figures of the time,
2706. as well as monographs on the war. One of the rooms on the second floor of his
2707. home is lined with them; they literally fill an entire book case. David also
2708. tried to bring balance back to the history of the Holocaust, especially when he
2709. wrote about Jewish behavior. In much of the literature over the decades since
2710. the end of the war, the image of the Jews in the Holocaust has moved from being
2711. portrayed as one-dimensional victims, to being nearly lionized for having gone
2712. through the Holocaust. David sought to show that first and foremost the Jews
2713. were human beings, and as such had many diverse qualities, strengths and
2714. foibles, and displayed a great range of behaviors.<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2715. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
2716. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5kbOmUWbetUz92Pgwc9kRlH_c-9IVi_rfvbGLNtvZ38Y2WIdV-CPD0W2cLDyEWgXhjkcgyyR44W0sw77wjyCWucqQ_bIvnLnyTX0ynRrK3PrTOQYXikLhbFS21-2cts9YI-juTT3jbg/s1600/cesarani-cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5kbOmUWbetUz92Pgwc9kRlH_c-9IVi_rfvbGLNtvZ38Y2WIdV-CPD0W2cLDyEWgXhjkcgyyR44W0sw77wjyCWucqQ_bIvnLnyTX0ynRrK3PrTOQYXikLhbFS21-2cts9YI-juTT3jbg/s320/cesarani-cropped.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
2717. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professor Cesarani addressing the public at the <br />
2718. inaugurtaion of the Oppenheim Chair, 1998</td></tr>
2719. </tbody></table>
2720. <br />
2721. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2722. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">David
2723. was an excellent speaker. His public lectures were not only well grounded in
2724. history, lucid and interesting, but they almost invariably contained some sort
2725. of punch line that not only made a good point, but engendered laughter. David
2726. was a frequent guest of Yad Vashem at international research conferences and
2727. symposia, and in 1998-1999 he was a fellow of the International Institute for
2728. Holocaust Research as the Baron Friedrich Carl von Oppenheim Chair for the
2729. study of Racism, Antisemitism and the Holocaust. In private, David was a great
2730. story teller, and it was always a pleasure to sit and talk with him over a meal
2731. or glass of wine, and hear about some arcane but amusing piece of history or
2732. something from his personal experience.</span></div>
2733. <br />
2734. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2735. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">An
2736. important role David played was that of public historian. He was involved in
2737. films, such as about the last survivor from Treblinka, as well as in
2738. establishing the Holocaust exhibit at London's Imperial War Museum. David was
2739. frequently interviewed in the British media on subjects relating to the
2740. Holocaust and antisemitism, and indeed was a well-known figure in the UK. For
2741. his work in advancing Holocaust commemoration in Britain he was awarded an OBE
2742. by the Queen. Most recently during the British chairmanship of IHRA, David
2743. returned to that body, lending the British delegation his prestige, experience
2744. and vast knowledge.<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2745. <br />
2746. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2747. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">Over
2748. more than twenty years of our friendship I spent many hours with David. I
2749. learned many things from him and although I'm the Yad Vashem Library Director,
2750. I even received more than one good suggestion for a book to read. But mostly, I
2751. just enjoyed his company: sitting in his backyard on a cool April evening;
2752. taking our children on a hike in Israel followed by a barbeque in "Little
2753. Switzerland"; meeting for coffee when we both happened to be in Budapest;
2754. driving back and forth to Yad Vashem when he was here for research and bunking
2755. at my home; enjoying a Shabbat meal with our families and other friends – and
2756. all the while moving from talking about our work, to current events, to
2757. subjects more personal.</span></div>
2758. <br />
2759. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2760. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
2761. is hard to believe that David is no longer here and that we will no longer
2762. benefit from his knowledge, his critical thinking, his wisdom, his eloquence,
2763. his wit and his warmth.<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2764. <br />
2765. <div class="MsoPlainText" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2766. <span style="font-family: Calibri;">May
2767. his memory be blessed.</span></div>
2768. &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Calibri;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span dir=&quot;RTL&quot; lang=&quot;HE&quot; style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;</description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-scholar-of-tremendous-depth-and.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY0UQfQOMzuu-upaCVVV6R2HtQrC1AgFuoYfd-lSfWpCMZKDFWFj65LrLe-0y0mT0mpqNdOT6xO5PwpYqnWglrggdUAcJG2PvkS_67zaJOypCsGtmC7u0tZezg4BH0UKs3TYYzzCHY19E/s72-c/2006_01270067.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-8893144051152393277</guid><pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2015 18:22:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-10-21T21:22:45.293+03:00</atom:updated><title>Setting the Record Straight </title><description>&lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;
2769. Yad Vashem Chief Historian Professor Dina Porat:</div>
2770. <div class="MsoNormal">
2771. <o:p></o:p></div>
2772. <div class="MsoNormal">
2773. It is a well-documented and undisputable fact that many
2774. years before his rise to power, Adolf Hitler was already obsessed by the notion
2775. that the Jews constituted an existential danger to the humankind, and thus
2776. world Jewry needed to be eliminated at all costs. </div>
2777. <div class="MsoNormal">
2778. <o:p></o:p></div>
2779. <div class="MsoNormal">
2780. <br /></div>
2781. <div class="MsoNormal">
2782. This ideology began to be formed by Hilter when he was a
2783. solider during World War I.  Hitler
2784. believed that the war had not only been caused by the Jews, but also that the
2785. Jews had stabbed Germany in the back. 
2786. Hitler went on to develop his obsession with the Jewish problem in his infamous
2787. manifest, <i>Mein Kampf</i>, and later in other central documents of the Nazi
2788. Party that began to establish itself in the 1920s.  Finally, in a speech at the Reichstag on
2789. January 30, 1939, Hitler stated outright that if world Jewry would ‘once again
2790. drag the entire world into a World War’ then the only possible outcome would be
2791. the extermination of the Jewish people.  <o:p></o:p></div>
2792. <div class="MsoNormal">
2793. <br /></div>
2794. <div class="MsoNormal">
2795. All of these facts clearly show that Adolf Hitler was
2796. determined to annihilate the Jews, and subsequent historical events demonstrate
2797. how this mania developed them into official Nazi policies.  Hitler didn't need anyone else, including the
2798. Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseni, to come up with the idea to
2799. implement the "Final Solution." 
2800. <o:p></o:p></div>
2801. <div class="MsoNormal">
2802. <br /></div>
2803. <div class="MsoNormal">
2804. The Grand Mufti's visit, over two years after the outbreak
2805. of WWII, came once many "Final Solution policies were already in full
2806. swing.  Almost immediately following the
2807. invasion of Poland in September 1939, Reinhard Heydrich received instructions from
2808. Berlin giving the orders to establish ghettos and Jewish Councils in the
2809. occupied Polish territories.  It was widely
2810. understood amongst the SS that the ghettoization process of the Jews in Europe
2811. was a stepping stone for the implementation of the "Final Solution."  In addition, after the invasion of the Soviet
2812. Union in June 1941 the SS Einsatzgruppen began the mass murders of the 1.5
2813. million Jews in Lithuania, Russia, and the Ukraine.  The first extermination camp, Chelmno, began
2814. operations at the beginning of December 1941 just days after the meeting with
2815. the Grand Mufti.  The building of the
2816. death camp had already been underway for several months when these two leaders
2817. met.  <o:p></o:p></div>
2818. <div class="MsoNormal">
2819. <br /></div>
2820. <div class="MsoNormal">
2821. Therefore, the way Prime Minister Netanyahu worded his
2822. comments was historically inaccurate from the perspective of the "Final
2823. Solution" of European Jewry, but was on point for plans to expand this
2824. policy to Jews living in Mandatory Palestine. The Mufti had a specific agenda
2825. in meeting Hitler in 1941. The Protocol from this fateful meeting specifically
2826. states that "The Fuehrer replied that Germany stood for uncompromising war
2827. against the Jews and that naturally included active opposition to the Jewish
2828. national home in Palestine."  Hitler
2829. promised that he would carry on the battle to the total destruction of the "Judeo-Communistic
2830. Empire" in Europe.  The Mufti of
2831. Jerusalem was no lover of the Jewish people. 
2832. He was an ardent antisemite, but the idea of the "Final
2833. Solution" was Hitler's alone, as was the implementation of its appalling policies
2834. and actions. <o:p></o:p></div>
2835. <br />
2836. <div class="MsoNormal">
2837. <br /></div>
2838. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/10/setting-record-straight.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-3989795364017386116</guid><pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2015 11:53:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-10-15T14:53:38.518+03:00</atom:updated><title>Courage, Strength and Humanity </title><description>&lt;br /&gt;
2839. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2840. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF0FA104Hr9bfEv9wMHfYDUyy5kbQeAtsj5_vvyuDloGkgd01lUBx33DFfGHmJAdUXolPomo60d1_tQYUVyk2xfvNNJ4VOyx54_hN2Rw6Ce2y61MIuOVitYnyehKfD5wqqIQ68Gx39IKo/s1600/DSC_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF0FA104Hr9bfEv9wMHfYDUyy5kbQeAtsj5_vvyuDloGkgd01lUBx33DFfGHmJAdUXolPomo60d1_tQYUVyk2xfvNNJ4VOyx54_hN2Rw6Ce2y61MIuOVitYnyehKfD5wqqIQ68Gx39IKo/s320/DSC_0023.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
2841. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2842. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">
2843. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">"I look at my family and I see a miracle!" exclaimed Tova
2844. at the ceremony at Yad Vashem on Monday. "It's marvelous to be here"
2845. she said with a big smile on her face. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tova
2846. was attending a special ceremony honoring the late Angele Larose. Angele saved
2847. Tova's life during the war by hiding her from the Nazis. During an emotional
2848. speech, Tova expressed her gratitude to André and his family who were attending
2849. the ceremony honoring their late grandmother for her wartime heroism. Tova
2850. reminisced about many happy memories she had from living on the farm and came
2851. to personally thank Angele's grandson for rescuing her. "Angele saved my
2852. life by her actions…my parents understood what they owed her. I did not because
2853. I was too young. Now, however I fully understand and appreciate her courage,
2854. strength and humanity." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
2855.  
2856.  
2857. <o:p></o:p></span> </div>
2858. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2859. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrHvS4r4zPFqdQH8sN6QNqowkPyVqFcy0nOhMZJn1qOBR1vIzWjZuOC3DV5Y2O8LHBPBg5hTv-6FkMndRtMYo48qck9CG3gSN5WRy-sSxRNHihhiwilFBm4K1ZvNnxGxCsQnIhLNw0Dw/s1600/DSC_0026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrHvS4r4zPFqdQH8sN6QNqowkPyVqFcy0nOhMZJn1qOBR1vIzWjZuOC3DV5Y2O8LHBPBg5hTv-6FkMndRtMYo48qck9CG3gSN5WRy-sSxRNHihhiwilFBm4K1ZvNnxGxCsQnIhLNw0Dw/s320/DSC_0026.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
2860. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2861. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Before
2862. the war, Hersch and Esther Lowenbraun emigrated from Poland to Charlerio,
2863. Belgium together with their two daughters; Sala (born 1925) and Matylda (born
2864. 1929). Their third daughter, Theresa-Tova, was born in Belgium in 1938.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Sala was arrested and deported with the first
2865. transport from Belgium to Poland in 1942.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
2866. </span>In an attempt to save their two remaining daughters, Esther brought both
2867. Matylda and Theresa-Tova to the Saint Joseph Hospital and Convent. There, she
2868. asked the Mother Superior, Sister Julienne Aneuse, to hide the girls. Before
2869. leaving Esther instructed Matylda to recite the "Shema" prayer with
2870. her younger sister Tova in order not to forget their Jewish heritage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
2871. <br />
2872.  
2873.  
2874. <br />
2875. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2876. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbvVoYVRhM8wUIxQs5ZZbQ3IX12NJVriBms9xCACOwj-z2rpYZX5pd41atDqb0EQsHR74GBwem2hkK4rTqjbSBVxOrRZHJnHaPXh2RE9hWbwyTxHvzPTjOW-o_f8Up3O8GHLQzFQUKf1c/s1600/DSC_0045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbvVoYVRhM8wUIxQs5ZZbQ3IX12NJVriBms9xCACOwj-z2rpYZX5pd41atDqb0EQsHR74GBwem2hkK4rTqjbSBVxOrRZHJnHaPXh2RE9hWbwyTxHvzPTjOW-o_f8Up3O8GHLQzFQUKf1c/s320/DSC_0045.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
2877. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2878. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
2879. 1943, Esther decided to move the girls to a safer location. Tova was taken to
2880. the farm of Angele Larose in the village of Villers-Poterie. The Larose family
2881. treated Tova well, and Tova benefited from the quiet life of the village,
2882. enjoying the animals. Occasionally, Esther would visit but, as Tova told Yad
2883. Vashem, "I didn't remember her as my mother, just a woman who visited and
2884. brought me a doll." Tova would accompany the Larose family to church every
2885. week, and at a certain stage asked the Priest to convert to Christianity. The
2886. Priest told her she would be able to do so when she was older. At the end of
2887. the war, Esther came to get her daughter and along with Hersch and Matylda,
2888. they immigrated to the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
2889. <br />
2890. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2891. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
2892. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2893. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUKcRZYntfBFmNJp_IobLuWfpgG8KJ22G4Gvte_CBIdEbRy2BQ2en_PPPA8IUgv-jyFDFcsbyr5l6-6PiY5UopHWlCRHTPHSXb_FNeL4Vx-atHst5J2KT_to7XM27hqQWzHCe_cG3o1U/s1600/DSC_0102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUKcRZYntfBFmNJp_IobLuWfpgG8KJ22G4Gvte_CBIdEbRy2BQ2en_PPPA8IUgv-jyFDFcsbyr5l6-6PiY5UopHWlCRHTPHSXb_FNeL4Vx-atHst5J2KT_to7XM27hqQWzHCe_cG3o1U/s320/DSC_0102.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
2894. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2895. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">André
2896. was also very moved by the experience. "Who would've thought I would be talking
2897. about my grandmother here in Jerusalem. Her name will forever be remembered at
2898. Yad Vashem. It's wonderful to see Tova and all of her family."  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
2899. <br />
2900. <br />
2901. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2902. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">On
2903. March 16, 2015, Yad Vashem recognized Angele Larose and Sister Julienne Aneuse
2904. as Righteous Among the Nations.<span dir="RTL" lang="HE"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2905. <br />
2906.  
2907.  
2908. <br />
2909. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2910. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4cWf6gV9q3TQ9ZuT_BVTNE2zTbINhIr6SE2b7HNH0TeMLvv0Oy-FKP0481pBdEyHPAQ-HjSbYTO6aKZqjY6nBKXWutqTXMU6-FhjBukuH7mmwPf3dwOB2CK_ugu5T78m8GYLdocHf7ac/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4cWf6gV9q3TQ9ZuT_BVTNE2zTbINhIr6SE2b7HNH0TeMLvv0Oy-FKP0481pBdEyHPAQ-HjSbYTO6aKZqjY6nBKXWutqTXMU6-FhjBukuH7mmwPf3dwOB2CK_ugu5T78m8GYLdocHf7ac/s320/DSC_0115.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
2911. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2912. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Irena
2913. Steinfeldt, Director of the Department of the Righteous Among the Nations at
2914. Yad Vashem</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> concluded the ceremony by noting that "not only were the
2915. Righteous extremely courageous for risking their lives to save others, but also
2916. the survivors themselves are remarkable as hiding is an enormous challenge. We
2917. can only admire them." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
2918. <br />
2919. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2920. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
2921. <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
2922. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">For
2923. more information about the Righteous Among the Nations: </span><a href="http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/index.asp"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/index.asp</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
2924. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: 12pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;span dir=&quot;RTL&quot; lang=&quot;HE&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/10/courage-strength-and-humanity.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF0FA104Hr9bfEv9wMHfYDUyy5kbQeAtsj5_vvyuDloGkgd01lUBx33DFfGHmJAdUXolPomo60d1_tQYUVyk2xfvNNJ4VOyx54_hN2Rw6Ce2y61MIuOVitYnyehKfD5wqqIQ68Gx39IKo/s72-c/DSC_0023.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7329866651380832478.post-5066254804873829236</guid><pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2015 12:39:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2015-10-08T16:23:27.664+03:00</atom:updated><title>Behind-the-Scenes at Yad Vashem: Reference and Information Services Department  </title><description>&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
2925. <span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"></span></span> </div>
2926. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 42.55pt 0pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2927. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This first in a series of Q &As with Yad Vashem staff, takes a
2928. behind-the-scenes look at the Reference and Information Services Department
2929. of the Archives Division.  Department Director Lital Beer gives an overview of the their
2930. current challenges and accomplishments: </span></span></div>
2931. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 42.55pt 0pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2932. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br /></div>
2933. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 42.55pt 0pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2934. </div>
2935. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 42.55pt 0pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2936. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
2937. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLgM07A0rwbbXcthgxLDBJVQvFVBw1jXIlnBE5sGEksa45Mpdh2YWYF2ThPOab9xrExjG2groaodZGcE1OFaVmfXsvpSbjcH1Zi7XomwD15c4Wm160H_C5CrjhkVJoLntiG-LKgTdHvFg/s1600/Lital+Bear.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLgM07A0rwbbXcthgxLDBJVQvFVBw1jXIlnBE5sGEksa45Mpdh2YWYF2ThPOab9xrExjG2groaodZGcE1OFaVmfXsvpSbjcH1Zi7XomwD15c4Wm160H_C5CrjhkVJoLntiG-LKgTdHvFg/s400/Lital+Bear.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
2938. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lital Beer, Director of the Reference and Information Services Department</td></tr>
2939. </tbody></table>
2940. </div>
2941. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 42.55pt 0pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2942.  </div>
2943. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2944. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;">Why was the Reference and
2945. Information Services Department established?</span></b><b><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "David",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
2946. <br />
2947. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2948. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Reference and Information Services Department was established
2949. in 2000 in order to streamline public enquiries directed at Yad Vashem's Archives,
2950. Library and Hall of Names. Until this point, these three branches offered
2951. separate services to people seeking information about the fate of certain
2952. individuals during the Holocaust. The precedent-setting decision to unite them, stemmed
2953. from the understanding that in most cases, this kind of query requires a search
2954. across multiple databases, producing a far more comprehensive answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2955. <br />
2956. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2957. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;">Over the years, the Department employees have developed specialties in database
2958. management, particularly the ability to cross-reference accurate information
2959. and documentation about Holocaust victims.</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "David",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2960. <span dir="LTR" style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
2961. <br />
2962. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2963. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;">Which people or groups seek
2964. help finding information, and in what fields?</span></b><b><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "David",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
2965. <br />
2966. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2967. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Approximately 10,000 people
2968. per year come to Yad Vashem’s Reading Room, and around 20,000 more contact us
2969. in writing from all over the world – from Israel, Europe, America, and even
2970. from Arab countries. A considerable amount of requests deal with clarifying the
2971. fate of Holocaust victims, mostly from relatives, but our services also help
2972. professionals in the fields of genealogy and law.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2973. <br />
2974. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2975. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I'll give you an example. Recently,
2976. Henry Horvath from Ecuador visited the Archives with his son, Ronny. Henry's
2977. father, Aladar Benjamin Horvath Goldstein, was born in 1907 in Zagon, then part
2978. of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and today located in Romania. Aladar survived
2979. the war in France, where he was located for business purposes, and from there
2980. he escaped to Portugal. He was the only surviving member of his family. His son
2981. Henry sent us the names of his father's brother and sisters, about whom he had
2982. no information. Rita Margolin, a senior researcher in our Department, was able
2983. to locate information about each and every member of Aladar's family.</span></span></div>
2984. <br />
2985. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2986. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;">Other inquirers are Israeli
2987. and international researchers from various disciplines looking for archival and
2988. academic sources, as well as book publishers and even film producers seeking information
2989. to complete their research. We also assist museums and other memorial
2990. institutions searching for sources and information for exhibitions and
2991. ceremonies.</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "David",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
2992. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
2993. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXs1pWHrZXoWTY-Z0LUjnKh-R2Zwh1TQz1gASsTmaSAO50T9Y0aJZGVV562uMd3qKigExQIHzv9tzXVVV5zR1iTnokwjYQGmGawoWSeCxK9mgLhPsNaer2bOPAQMngKE5qlcmzVxBH-I/s1600/P1010285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGXs1pWHrZXoWTY-Z0LUjnKh-R2Zwh1TQz1gASsTmaSAO50T9Y0aJZGVV562uMd3qKigExQIHzv9tzXVVV5zR1iTnokwjYQGmGawoWSeCxK9mgLhPsNaer2bOPAQMngKE5qlcmzVxBH-I/s320/P1010285.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
2994. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Searching for Archival material in the Reading Room</td></tr>
2995. </tbody></table>
2996. <br />
2997. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
2998. <b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What challenges do you see
2999. for the Department in the future, and what tools do you already have to help
3000. solve them?</span></span></b></div>
3001. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
3002. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;">Nowadays, people are
3003. exposed to a wealth of information and documentation on the Internet, and therefore
3004. their inquiries are more challenging in terms of the material itself, its
3005. context and its significance. If a large part of our work in the past involved
3006. assisting people with accessing available materials on Yad Vashem’s physical
3007. campus, our role in the future will focus more on the need to help the public
3008. identify what’s relevant from the variety of accessible materials from around the
3009. world. This challenge demands that we learn and continuously develop
3010. specialties, and we do this both by training new staff members and by regular
3011. professional development programming.</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "David",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
3012. <span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "David",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
3013. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
3014. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another challenge is the
3015. gap that often exists in the third and fourth generation’s knowledge of the
3016. Holocaust versus that of the first and second. In many cases, we receive
3017. requests for information from people who don’t know all the family details, such
3018. as names, birthdates, and places. In my opinion, this trend will increase in
3019. the future, so we have to be able to fill in the missing information in a
3020. variety of means. Often this is real detective work. The greatest difficulty is
3021. understanding that it is not always possible to be completely sure of the final
3022. fate of a particular person.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
3023. <br />
3024. <b><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why is it important for
3025. people to know about your services? How do you reach people that are unaware of
3026. your work?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
3027. <br />
3028. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
3029. <span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite the distance of
3030. time, the Holocaust continues to be an important and major subject in the
3031. consciousness of people in Israel and the entire world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Many are unaware of the vast information
3032. stored at Yad Vashem. The material accumulated here is meant to assist the
3033. public – as individuals and as groups – in researching the Holocaust and the
3034. history of individuals during that time, and commemorating them.<span style="background-color: white; color: black;">We aren’t fulfilling our mission if our sources aren’t being used by the public in the most effective way.</span>  As such, we maintain working contacts with a great many Holocaust-related
3035. institutions and organizations; we initiate and participate in conferences and
3036. study days; and we also work with universities and colleges to inform people studying
3037. the topic about our services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
3038. <br />
3039. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
3040. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
3041. <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_OiNBggFZ9jIyLC33OsfeaXrvv1Ik2wD2qWEj9tNkV4nZIM1M9yqriiC_rEwAjlfOHRB5O-GWoYUOycoDFyi6k0VUSCpgBAC-3NmJPOvg5vwFdnvDEjK75Cn2cRxRjIPYWZ0Chzag-3Q/s1600/_MG_6827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_OiNBggFZ9jIyLC33OsfeaXrvv1Ik2wD2qWEj9tNkV4nZIM1M9yqriiC_rEwAjlfOHRB5O-GWoYUOycoDFyi6k0VUSCpgBAC-3NmJPOvg5vwFdnvDEjK75Cn2cRxRjIPYWZ0Chzag-3Q/s320/_MG_6827.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
3042. <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Researching in the Reading Room</td></tr>
3043. </tbody></table>
3044. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;">Our greatest satisfaction
3045. is when we can help those who have approached us by supplying them with
3046. information they were unable to reach alone. After returning to Ecuador, Henry
3047. Horvath wrote: "</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My father was the
3048. only survivor of his family. I lament the pain that accompanied him during his
3049. lifetime. He was never able to talk about it or share whatever information he
3050. had, and suffered in silence. I understood from an early age not to ask
3051. questions, since they caused him pain. I only recorded in my mind the few
3052. comments that once in a while would escape him… We are especially grateful to
3053. everyone who helped put together the story of my family. Now I know the names
3054. of the husbands and the wives of my uncle and aunts, and also the names of their
3055. children and how many of them existed... Now I know when they were deported and
3056. where. Now I have been able to put names to the people in one family photograph
3057. that dates back to 1937…</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: David;"> [this has] </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">finalized an open
3058. question I have wrestled with my entire life." </span></span></div>
3059. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
3060. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></span><br />
3061. </div>
3062. <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">
3063. <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
3064. </description><link>http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com/2015/10/behind-scenes-at-yad-vashem.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Yad Vashem)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLgM07A0rwbbXcthgxLDBJVQvFVBw1jXIlnBE5sGEksa45Mpdh2YWYF2ThPOab9xrExjG2groaodZGcE1OFaVmfXsvpSbjcH1Zi7XomwD15c4Wm160H_C5CrjhkVJoLntiG-LKgTdHvFg/s72-c/Lital+Bear.JPG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>