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The Torchlighters: The Voice of the Survivors

(Yad Vashem) At the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, six torches are lit, representing the six million murdered Jews. The torchlighters in 2010 were: Eliezer Ayalon and his family were incarcerated in the Radom ghetto in Poland in April 1941. Eliezer had work and residence in a German clothing warehouse outside the ghetto. In August 1942, the ghetto was sealed. Though anyone with a work permit could have left, Eliezer refused to part from his family. His family members spent two hours begging him to save himself. Finally, his mother said: "If there is anyone in the family with a chance to stay alive - it's you. This was meant to be. May you have a sweet life." She accompanied him to the gate with a cup of honey. Eliezer's mother, father, sister and two brothers were all murdered at Treblinka. Hannah Gofrit was born in Biala Rawska, Poland, where in 1942 the town's Jews were deported to Treblinka. A neighbor obtained forged documents for Hannah and her mother, and for two years the women hid in the Warsaw apartment of the Skowronek family (later recognized as Righteous Gentiles). They were forbidden to look out the window or wear shoes, for fear of their discovery. Hannah and her mother were saved during a Gestapo raid when one of the daughters hid them in the attic. Sara (Kati) Israeli was born in Pestszenterzsebet, Hungary (today Budapest) and in May 1944, her family were forced to live in the town's ghetto. In June they were transported to Monor, a concentration camp whose inmates were sent to Auschwitz. However, the family was put on a truck back to a camp in Budapest. Many years later, Sara found out that her family was supposed to have been put on a train to Switzerland, similar to the so-called Kastner train, but the plan was never carried out. Leo Luster and his parents were deported from Vienna to Theresienstadt in 1942. In September 1944, Leo and his father were deported to Auschwitz where his father was killed. At the Blechhammer camp in 1945, Leo and a friend dared to flee to the nearby woods. Hearing the sound of approaching vehicles, Leo noticed a red star. He emerged from the trees, pointed to himself and yelled, "Jew, Jew!" A Russian officer stepped out of the car and answered in Yiddish, "I too am Jewish." Baruch Shub was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. In June 1941, the Germans conquered Vilnius and began murdering Jews in Ponary. Baruch found work at a German garage in Radoszkovice. On 11 March 1942, the Jews were ordered to gather in the town square. From his hiding place in the garage, Baruch saw a huge line of people, including children, moving slowly towards a barn. The sound of shooting could be heard. At night, the barn caught fire and a thick stench filled the skies. His older sister Zipporah was among the 840 Jews murdered there that day. He arrived in pre-state Israel in October 1945, served as an airplane technician during the War of Independence, and became Chief Flight Engineer of El Al Israel Airlines. Jakob Zim was born in Sosnowiec, Poland. He was with his younger brother, Nathan, at Auschwitz when the Red Army approached. The prisoners were taken on a death march, with Jakob and Nathan trudging over snow-covered fields, one brother supporting the other. The brothers made it to Buchenwald, where they were liberated.
2010-04-12 09:37:17
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