Holocaust Remembering Day

I usually "ignore" official Holocaust Memorial or "Remembering" events. To be honest, they make me feel rather "left out." Speakers, whether first generation survivors themselves or those my age who are called "second generation"  use too much of the "we" and "our" presuming that we all have the same sort of family history. No, I'm not from one of the Jewish communities from "Arab countries" that hadn't been affected by the the Holocaust. I'm just as Ashkenazic as your typical Holocaust survivor, but all my grandparents had moved to New York in the early twentieth century. Apparently, all of their relatives who had remained in Europe were killed in the Holocaust, but I never heard anything of it while growing up.

Bell Park Gardens, Bayside, NY, was a new neighborhood built for American military veterans after World War Two. All the other parents were raised and mostly born in America, just like mine. We grew up hearing of Anna Frank's Diary and then the legendary capture of  Adolf Eichmann and his trial in real time.

Mayor Moshe Leon and two "survivors"

But last night I found myself at a Holocaust Memorial event, davka, at the home of the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Leon. We heard amazing stories from these two men.

I've always wondered how people could find the strength to go on with living after experiencing the hell and cruelty of the Holocaust. The one on the right didn't want to talk about how he had suffered, only how he started a new life in Israel. The one in the middle had a truly amazing story. Two neighbors helped hide him and seven relatives for four years. First they had been crowded into a specially built "double wall." They couldn't stand, walk or speak during that time. Afterwards they were moved to the basement of a preschool, where they stayed until it was safe to leave. All but one of that group made aliyah, moved to the Land of Israel, which was under British rule at the time. The British tried to keep them out.

I'm glad to have had the opportunity to hear these brave men speak.

I recorded some of the talk, and posted it to youtube. If you understand Hebrew you can listen.