"Why did I survive? I question that myself. I was in second grade before the war and out of 30 classmates, only two of us survived. Why am I so special? I don't know the answer. I believe in God and I'm still here. To all survivors, I say be happy."

"I realized it was a selection [Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp] to kill us. I used to put sand in my shoes to make myself [appear] a little taller. Mengele came to me and asked, 'How old are you?' I said, 'I'm 14'. He said, 'You're a liar', and took his gloves and hit me over the face."

"He told me to drop my pants and my shirt and told me to turn around. He than asked, 'How come you're so dark?' I said, 'I only have one shirt. When it's a hot day the sun is out. I want to preserve that shirt, so I remove it and this is how I got a suntan'."

"I don't know if he liked my suntan, or if he liked my answer. I have no idea. He just passed me by and took the guy next to me to be killed."

91-year-old Holocaust survivor, Dr. Arnold Clevs

“To all survivors, I say, be happy,” says Holocaust survivor Dr. Arnold Clevs, left, with Zikaron BaSalon host Eylon Levy. Photo by Aviva Engel

 

Dr. Clevs was eight years of age when he, his parents and six-year-old sister were forced to relocate to the ghetto in their town in Lithuania. The family employed a live-in housekeeper, a young Lithuanian women who Dr. Clevs described as having grown up with the Clevs children. One day she appeared with a Lithuanian collaborator who came into the house and selected whatever was there that appealed to him. The young woman accommodated her companion. Dr. Clev's mother asked of her 'Could you bring us some bread?'. But they never saw her again.

There are approximately 149,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel. Among them many were children, or babies born during the war. Monday will see the commemorative arrival of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this occasion, a ritual ensued where survivors and others seeking to honour the millions of Jewish children, men and woman who perished as a result of Nazi Germany's institutionalized killing apparatus visit the death camps, a solemn occasion to look back while simultaneously looking forward.

Although 80 years have passed, the memory of those whose lives were extinguished burns bright in the hearts, minds and souls of the survivors. Memorial candles will be lit in millions of Jewish homes, in memory of those who died so prematurely because they were Jews. On October 7 of 2023, some of those Holocaust survivors experienced a scenario reminiscent of what they had lived through generations earlier when the terrorist group Hamas that governs Gaza flooded into Israel to torture, murder and kidnap civilian Israelis.

A group called Zikaron BaSalon meaning Remembrance in the Living Room dedicated to helping Holocaust survivors in their adjustment to normal life, spring into action when incidents occur that overwhelm the survivors with past memories leading to uncertainties and re-emergence of the trauma they suffered. The group knew that in the follow-up to October 7 they would be needed to help heal more recent wounds as Israelis mourned their dead and were tormented about the fate of the hostages, among them their loved ones; children, the elderly, women and men.

"When the war broke out, we realized that we were not dealing with the typical scenarios that the country is used to -- this was something different. The first group that needed our attention were the survivors, whom we knew would not only be fearful, but likely also reliving their childhood traumas. I spoke to a 93-year-old-survivor who said, 'Get me a uniform and a weapon and I'm going in'. But for the most part, Holocaust survivors were really, really traumatized like the rest of us by what they were seeing."

"These Holocaust survivors have endured the absolute worst of humanity, yet they have rebuilt their lives, created families, communities and businesses, and contributed to the establishment of the State of Israel."

Sharon Buenos, global director, Zikaron BaSalon

The immediate action undertaken was to establish an emergency call centre offering emotional support and assistance with food, shelter, medication and transportation to medical appointments for the Israelis who were left homeless after October 7, evacuated from the southern Israel area, from the towns and kibbutzim where their homes were destroyed their belongings looted, their friends murdered. The displaced Israelis were in a state of shock, particularly the children, some of whom had witnessed unbelievable savagery and loss.

Survivors of the Nova music festival and children from the regions across the border from Gaza, attacked on October 7, were connected by Zikaron BaSalon with Holocaust survivors for mentoring and a unique type of emotional assurances. A living room was set up at the Dan Acadia Herzliya Hotel for child evacuees of a community on the Gaza border that suffered agonizing casualties. Currently living at the hotel with their families, the children interacted with Holocaust survivor Hannah Gofrit who at the age of four until she was ten suffered under the Nazis.

Dr. Clevs spent two years in 11 different slave labour and concentration camps. After liberation, he was reunited with his mother and sister. He raised a family in Chicago where he practised dentistry, and eventually moved to Israel. A fellow survivor who had been in Auschwitz-Birkenau with Dr. Clevs as a 16-year-old, now living in Sderot, southern Israel, is 97.  Asked how he managed, living in a town with missiles arriving sporadically, he responded: 'It's a hell of a lot better than Birkenau'.

Crowd of thousands gathers in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square to hear testimonies from Holocaust survivors and hostage families on May 5, 2024, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)