At the initiative of the Veterans and Youth Headquarters of the Efrat Local Council and in cooperation with the Yehuda Regional Fire Station in the Judea and Samaria District of the Fire and Rescue District, the station's firefighters visited the homes of Holocaust survivors.
In recent years, the number of Holocaust survivors has been declining and the goal of the project is to connect the next generation of Holocaust survivors, residents of the locality, to create a meeting where they can hear from them their past.
During the exciting encounters, the spectators were exposed to a variety of stories, including the story of Esther Schlesinger, who as a 6-year-old girl was hidden with her sister by a Hungarian family while her mother and other sisters were sent to Auschwitz. She started a family in Efrat and lost her brother in a terrorist attack in Gush Katif and her grandson in a terrorist attack in Gush Etzion.
"Tell everyone that no one will forget, that no one will say there was nothing," Esther said.
Meir Shoresh with volunteers of the Scouts of Fire, Photo: HH YOS
Meir Shoresh, a native of Hungary, recounted how his father was forced to leave him at the age of a year and a half, and then taken to an orphanage where he remained until the end of the war.
Ora Ben-Arieh recounted the war years in Baghdad, when Arab neighbors of the family defended her and her sisters.
Ora Ben-Arieh and the volunteers, Photo: 22 Yosrael
Shlomo Klein recounted how he was taken from the ghetto on freight trains to the camps, while planes bombed the train.
The Nazi soldiers began to march them on foot, and along the way were forced to eat weeds they found to survive.
Shlomo Klein and fire scout volunteers,
Uriah Vanunu, a fire watcher who took part in the project, says that it is a deep and exciting experience.
"Reaching the homes of Holocaust survivors, neighbors in the community, sitting and hearing the stories and trying to understand what happened to them, is an unusual thing. I am glad I fell into the privilege of taking part in this project and I will no doubt pass the stories on, and never forget."
The person who accompanied the firefighters was Sergeant Yehondav Lifshitz, a spokesman for the Judea and Samaria district, a resident of Efrat and a grandson of Holocaust survivors himself.
Yehondav says that this is a mission, to reach the homes of the survivors and hear what they went through, even if it is for a brief moment.
"To every house we came to, the message returned: 'Tell everyone, remember, never again.'
With this message, we said goodbye and promised to keep it. "
The head of the Efrat local council, Oded Ravibi: "The fire scouts who take responsibility for the volunteer activity have taken on additional responsibility, passing on the torch of the Holocaust and the resurrection from the generation of survivors and builders to future generations in this country. .
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us