"Grandpa took his old sewing machine out of the attic, and in one moment I understood everything." Israel today

Holocaust Remembrance Day is a difficult and sad day for all the people of Israel, and for me it is the saddest day of the year.

Luckily, my grandparents, 94-year-old Grandpa Dodek and 91-year-old Grandma Gerty, are still with us here.

I was fortunate that at age 40 I still have grandparents, and I cherish that fact every day of my life.

Both are good friends of mine, both are for me an inspiration for optimism, resurrection, diligence and choice in life.

My grandfather went on the terrible journey from the Lodz ghetto to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, and from there continued on to the death march.

He lost his father and two younger brothers who were murdered by the Nazis.

He immigrated to Israel in 1945 and met his sister and mother here.

In Israel he knew Gertie, my grandmother, who immigrated to Israel from Bulgaria, she and her family were also in the ghetto, but the King of Bulgaria kept his Jewish citizens and they did not come to the extermination camps.

Grandpa Dodek and Grandma Gerty, Photo: Private

Grandpa Dodek and Grandma Gerty chose life.

They both worked very hard day and night to build the country and start a family, they have two children, seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

I'm the third grandson of Dodek and Gertie, I've always been attached to them and they always wrapped me in warmth and love.

Ever since I was little, already in elementary school, I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer.

I do not know how at all I was exposed to this art, I just painted clothes.

My father is a former military man and my mother is a social worker, not a particularly artistic house.

My brothers are also really not in the right direction, and yet, already in sixth grade, I knew I wanted to be a designer and study at Shenkar.

Throughout my life I have illustrated fashion and amassed an extensive portfolio, and after the army I decided to be accepted into Shenkar.

In one of the sorting steps, I was asked to present a model I had designed.

I did not know how to sew then, so I consulted with my family, who revealed to me the family history for the first time.

My grandfather, who at that time did not talk at all about his childhood, told me that all his family members were involved in fashion, they were all tailors, image makers, buyers, designers, seamstresses.

The city of Lodz, where they lived, is the third largest city in Poland, and is known as the city of the textile industry.

The entire Polish fashion industry was concentrated in this city at that time.

Suddenly in one moment everything connected to me, I realized where my love for fashion came from, it's my heritage, it's in my blood.

His inspiration.

Grandpa Dodek, Photo: Ran Yehezkel

Grandpa Dodek sat down and sewed with me the first model I had ever designed.

He took his old sewing machine out of the attic, sat down and just sewed.

Then the stories began, he told me about his uncle who traveled to Paris and brought with him examples to Poland, about his father who was a professional tailor, about the different types of stitching and the expertise in sewing a jacket.

The Lodz ghetto was inhabited by over 200,000 Jews from Lodz and the surrounding area, and since it was the textile city, the sewing shops in the area were converted for the Nazi regime, my grandfather told me about the time the whole family worked in a ghetto sewing workshop.

So in fact, their abilities and expertise kept them alive, at least at this point.

The connection to my heritage has greatly influenced me during my studies at Shenkar.

In one project I designed an outfit inspired by my grandfather's connection between Europe and a kibbutz, in another project I launched a brand inspired by them that included their names called GRETIDUDEK, and in a photography project I took my grandparents to the sea at five in the morning and photographed them in a moment of love and joy.

"I photographed them in a moment of love", Photo: Private

Later in my career, when I had a men's fashion brand, I chose to photograph Grandpa Dodek in one of the campaigns, and make him a model for one day.

I wanted to show the world my wonderful grandfather, to show that style has no age, to let his special character and the inspiration he instills in me every day be reflected in the pictures.

Grandpa Dodek is a Holocaust survivor, and he chose life.

Dealing with the trauma is daily, with all the difficulty and pain, my grandparents always taught me to look ahead, to choose the half full glass, to choose the good without ignoring the bad, and not letting the bad take over.

My dream is to one day fly to Lodz, explore and photograph the places, follow the family history and understand more where I came from.

Every day when I am in fashion I feel like I am continuing the legacy of my grandfather's family, the Nazis have not been able to break our chain, we are here and choose life in the happiest and most creative way possible.

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