I sometimes forget how recent the Holocaust was.
It can seem so distant and so removed - the black and white photos etc. This isn’t ancient history – it really happened and within living memory. We recently marked 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi camps.
I came across the recent death of Nechama Grossman (Ynet):
Born in 1914, Grossman survived the Holocaust and went on to raise a large family in Israel. Her son, Vladimir Shvets, said earlier this week that his mother had endured unimaginable suffering but overcame it with strength and resilience.
“She experienced the worst and survived,” he said. “She raised her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and taught them that unbridled hatred cannot win.”
Shvets added, “We must all remember her story, remember her survival, so that her past never becomes our future.”
Elena Shvets, Grossman’s granddaughter-in-law, said the trauma of the Holocaust remained with her until her final days.
“They fled the Nazis, and she suffered terribly during the war,” she said. “Lately, she had dreams—she even dreamed the Nazis were choking her. These memories never left her. I hope she is at peace now. Until the very end, she was sharp and spoke with us. She passed away quietly.”
Remembrance days, for me, feels different.
October-7 was the Holocaust reattempted. It was the largest number of Jewish people deliberately targeted and killed in a single day since the Holocaust.
When we saw the videos of young people trying to run away in the Nova music festival — it was the same as the historic photos of Jews running to escape from Nazis, being shot at, and being caught and tortured. The recent video footage of October-7 brings back the memories of our most dark period.
It is important to remember — as I was today reading the obituary of this lovely lady whose courage and strength and compassion I salute.
May she rest in peace, her long and courageous journey completed.
ReplyDeleteBless her heart! She had a long and amazing life. May she rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteI have watched a few Douglas Murray videos lately. It really shows how nasty human beings can be.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that she died, and that those memories continued to torment her. At least she lived 53 years longer than Hitler did.
ReplyDeleteAs the Holocaust passes out of living memory, anti-Semitism seems to be asserting itself more openly again in the West (it never really receded much in the Middle East). It's vital to resist this, including by keeping historical truth alive.
I hope Nechama had peace in her later years of life, but it seems inevitable that the trauma of the Holocaust remained with her until her final days, as her relative noted.
ReplyDeleteMy mother in law went back to Budapest in the middle 1990s, for the first time since she left after the Holocaust. She fell to the ground screaming when she "saw" the blood flowing thickly on the River Danube, through the centre of the modern city.
She reached an amazing age, an example of strength and fortitude.
ReplyDelete