"I could have chosen to sink into bereavement and depression, but I chose to lift myself" | Israel today

The week between Holocaust Remembrance Day and Memorial Day is defined by Nabat Sawiri-Schwarz as a week in which she "goes to the reserves."

Her parents, the late Masha and Anshel Schwartz, were Holocaust survivors, and her brother, the late Lieutenant Katriel Schwartz, was the first killed in the First Lebanon War.

Schwartz, 19, at the time of his death, led a convoy of tanks toward the city of Tire and was killed by sniper fire on June 6, 1982.

"I am the classic Israeli story," she says.

"A daughter of survivors who lost everything and rebuilt their lives in the country. This week I move between schools, talking about my meaning and insights a second ball to Holocaust survivors and as a bereaved sister, and how to get an optimistic message out of it. I could have chosen to sink into bereavement and depression, but chose to "

Without big words.

The late Katriel Schwartz,

Katriel was born in Moshav Tzafria near Rishon Lezion.

He attended the elementary school in Moshav, then the Maalot school in Bnei Brak and the Bnei Akiva high school in Netanya.

He loved entertaining friends at home and teaching them to drive a tractor, ride horses and work in the field, and was also an outstanding athlete in a variety of disciplines and active in the Bnei Akiva movement.

Nabat, without knowing it in advance, saw the scene of her brother's death in the award-winning film "Waltz with Bashir."

"The film tells the story of their tank and a story of battle shock. There were four people on the team, and Katriel was exposed in the turret. He was the one who led the convoy of tanks to see the way. At first they threw rice and flowers at them as Lebanese liberators. A bullet in the main artery in the neck. "

Following the film, a connection was made between the bereaved sister and a member of her brother's teammate, Ronny Fish.

"In the film, Roni tells about the shock he had. For years he did not come to our house because he was unable to."

Katriel is endowed with natural leadership, maturity, generosity and, above all, concern for his soldiers and comrades.

When he was a simple soldier and went home once every three weeks, Nevat says, "My father would collect tokens for him. Of course there were no cell phones, and we did not even have a phone at home yet. When he would go home to sit, he would get the token bag and run to the public phone to deliver "Q to other parents, whose children did not go out, and only then would he return home and eat."

Another story demonstrates his quiet leadership: "As part of maintaining the tanks' fitness, they had to be taken care of regularly. One of the soldiers approached Katriel and said he 'did not want to' take care of the tank. Katriel himself started arranging and organizing everything needed, and the same soldier said "Later I felt uncomfortable. Will I stay downstairs and smoke and he will clean up?"

Exposed in the turret.

From "Waltz with Bashir",

The chain of generations

After the death of her parents about six years ago and being an only sister, the burden of commemorating and passing on the legacy passed to her and her children exclusively, and she says it is a challenge as the years go by.

The family perpetuated the memory of Katriel in several ways, such as distributing scholarships to white studio students in Moshav Tzafria for community contribution and mutual help, and not just for academic excellence, in the spirit of the values ​​that characterized the fallen brother.

In addition, a library was established in his name and Beit-Am, which also bears the name of another fallen moshav member - "Beit Katriel and Aharon."

In recent years, work has begun to establish a "leadership park" for the love of the country and for contribution to the community, which will be inaugurated in Shoham, where Nevat volunteers at the aid organization for the needy, where Katriel was commemorated with other soldiers.

The family members learned by chance that in the area of ​​Qasr al-Yehud, on the Jordanian border, there is a road called the "Katriel Axis".

For many years the area was closed to citizens, so they did not hear about it.

This is a military road in the area where the armored brigade where Katriel served, and after his death, his friends from the company and the brigade decided to commemorate his memory and call the same axis by his name.

Another living memory is Nevat's eldest son, named Ahiad.

"The name means 'my brother forever,'" she explains.

"As a mother, it's not easy raising a child who is a walking commemoration, and of course choosing the name Katriel himself was very difficult. I have four children who served in important roles in the military. None of them thought to say he was from a whole family, and use that as a reason not to. That we have no other country, and everyone does everything he can.

"When Ahiad got the manila, he wanted to serve exclusively in the armored brigade that Katriel served in. When I saw him join the armor it was for me a closing circle, pain and happiness mixed together. The concept of 'chain of generations' takes on meaning. It is not an abstract concept."

The memory of her parents and brother, says Nevat, outlines her path in volunteering and doing to this day.

"My parents, as Holocaust survivors, came to Israel to build their lives. When their son was killed - everything with them collapsed. My feeling, a second bullet and as a bereaved sister, is that my job is to preserve this country. "For us, life is a cliché. Our job is to preserve the value of life. To preserve our country in terms of values, that we will be worthy of the heavy price of those whose blood is shed."

"Our Brothers" was founded in 2017 by bereaved brothers and volunteers, with the aim of creating a supportive and empowering community for brothers and sisters in the Israeli bereaved family.

Led by the association, the bereaved brothers and sisters are holding physical and virtual meetings throughout the country in the days leading up to the Day of Remembrance for the Martyrs of the Israeli Civil War and the Victims of Hostilities.

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