Today we have gone to the Holocaust. Before entering through the Museum we sat in front of a lovely elderly lady that was actually a survivor of the holocaust.

She told us about her story, from 4 years old the Germans came into her home pointing guns at her family to get out. The family all gathered in the church and there they stayed for weeks not knowing what was going to happen next. One of her uncles came in the door and yelled to her  RUN! .. The young girl not willing to let go of her mother was demanded to run out of the church loosing her in the rush. Just escaping the terror that was about to take place. That was the last time she saw her mother. Luckily throughout her travels of running away, people always looked after her. From one lady to the next, hiding her as much as they could until she became a little older (the lady was explaining that she had no papers so she could not say what her actual age was) she just got told by who ever was looking after her at the time what they roughly guessed it was..

The Germans came again to where she was staying. At the time she said, the Germans didn’t want little girls (because they were no use to slave labour) couldn’t do any work. So they would shoot them. The person at the time looking after her cut all her hair off and told her she needed to become a boy. She worked in concentration camps and the only thing she had was a picture of her family and some dirty clothes. Before having to move to another camp she got thrown onto a train with dozens of other people.. Cramped up and could hardly breathe, people would soil themselves and the stink she said was horrific. They were taking these Jews to the

Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. There they would strip everyone down and take anything and everything they owned. She panicked because they would see that he was actually a she. As this girl that looked like a boy came off the train, people ran straight into the snow. They hadn’t had any water or anything to eat in days and were using the ice as food and drink.. The Nazi’s put them into a line parting the female and male.. Thankfully the man she was with knew they would find out this little boy was actually a girl, so pushed her into the female line and misplaced her papers she had been given from the last camp. This lady told us, that was the last time she saw that “parent”/ carer that had been with her. She said she was walking down the line with the others and if anyone would stop to take a rest the soldiers would just shoot them. There was no stopping.

She was holding her photo shivering in the cold walking towards the concentration camp when one of the soldiers came up to her and told her to open her hand. She was holding onto the only memory, most valuable, only possession other than her dirty clothes she was wearing, opened her hand and he took it from her. He ripped it up in front of her face. This was a girl under the age of ten, with no family, no home, walking into a slave labour camp.

She said it was hell, she saw people die from sickness, starvation, die from being so cold. She said if someone was to step out of line and not do what the Germans  told them the soldiers would let off the Shepard dogs. People would die from infection, from these brutal dog bites. She said she was lucky though because there was always a lady caring for her, one would get taken away never to be seen again but then another would appear and take her place. This went on for years.

The lady told us one day she caught typhus so bad she thought this was the end of her life… She went outside and took herself to where all the dead body’s were, where the soldiers would throw all the other dead bodies . She really thought that was going to be her last night and wanted to be with the other body’s. When the morning came an unimaginable thing happened. A man in different coloured uniform came up to her and was ever so kind, he had a big smile on his face and called for others to help him carry her to their base. It was the British. They had taken over from the Nazi’s and finally she was saved. They gave her water and food.. However , many people after being saved actually died because they got serious food poising from eating too much  all at once.. The British thought they were doing the right thing by giving them lots of food but because they hadn’t eaten in such a long time there bodies shut down from overload.

She said from there she went to another camp but it was nothing like any of the others before. They treated her well, she could leave and come back, she had freedom. But because she was still a girl the British needed to find a home for her. One family came In and they wanted to take her to there home in Germany, but they were Christian. All the other people in the camp told her she shouldn’t go with them because they were Christian and she was Jew and if anyone were to find out she could take the risk of getting killed. So she stayed there for years until one family from America asked if she could go and live with them. She did.. She moved to Maine on the east coast of America. There she lived a happy child hood. Now she’s living over here in Isreal. In her 90’s and has found many clues and pieces fitting her life back together.

She went to her old house, it was the same just with different people living in it.  The family mezuzah was still in the door way. Some interpret Jewish law to require a mezuzah on every doorway in the home.

She has all the pictures of when she went back 70 years later. She showed us the church that is now a library.

It was incredible hearing her story. As she was describing it I felt I was right there with her.. It took her an hour going over her story and by the end we were all in tears.

Listening to that I understand why it is so important for the Jew’s to have a home land. There is so much conflict though because the Palestinian’s were here also.

It’s really the settlements that need to stop. The Holocaust people have there place here but all others shouldn’t be coming just for the sake of a nicer place in the sun!

After hearing her story we went through the museum, it was so sad. Seeing all the people that died just because of their religion. I still can’t comprehend how someone can convince other people to kill Jews in the war. At the end of the day we are all human.

These last three days have been overwhelming. I think I’ll be reflecting on this for a long time to try comprehend everything.

 

On a happy note.. The food here (Mediterranean) is so fresh, healthy and delicious. If I could eat this everyday I would be so healthy and happy!

🙂 xxxx