Last year, just a few hours before the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yuval Sussman sent a WhatsApp message to his father.
"He asked how to write the last name of my grandmother, my mother, and didn't explain why," recalled Yariv Sussman.
"To Tomi, I thought the boy was just interested, so I sent it to him. Later, in the evening, we connected to the German channel to watch his game as always, and suddenly I saw that on the jersey there was a sticker with the name GESTERN instead of Sussman. It was very exciting."
Sussman's act caused an uproar: an Israeli basketball player, who appears in the German league precisely on this day, bears the name of his grandmother - a Holocaust survivor - on his uniform.
He and his teammate, Tamir Blatt, wore black ribbons in the game against Hamburg.
"The next morning I came to my mother and showed her the photos, and she was so excited," father Yariv reveals.
"An elderly relative of ours, whose name is also Gastran, saw it - and thanks to this gesture, we held a family gathering and renewed contact after many years."
"I have a good offer, but if you don't agree - I won't play in Germany."
Yuval Sussman with his grandmother Lila (photo: courtesy of the family)
Lila Sussman née Gastern, who will soon celebrate her 90th birthday, was born in Warsaw, Poland and survived the Holocaust with her older sister Shoshana Zal. Europe and grew up in orphanages as Christians.
The Jewish Agency collected them, and they arrived in Israel through India, Iran and Egypt.
In fact, they are the first Jews to come here from the Holocaust."
Lila's parents did not survive the Holocaust, like many of their relatives. Her father Aren (Aharon) fought in the Anders army - the army of the Polish government in exile, which cooperated with the Red Army - alongside Menachem Begin, and did not return Alive. To this day it is not known under what circumstances he was killed. His mother Brunia (Barache) also perished. The extended family of her husband, the late Nachum Sussman, who was a footballer in Hapoel Belfuria from the top league, became extinct in Eastern Europe.
Lila speaks seven languages.
She studied at the Hadassim school alongside the late Prof. Shabach Weiss, who passed away this year, and worked as a registered nurse for about 50 years. "Mother didn't talk to us much about the Holocaust," says Yariv. , she began to open up and tell about what she had been through."
Sussman bears his grandmother's name in the Elba Berlin uniform, on Holocaust Day last year (photo: courtesy of the family)
When he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Yuval used to visit his grandmother every night of Holocaust Memorial Day.
"They have a very close and special relationship, and he didn't agree to sign with Elba without her blessing. My wife and I went there with him, and he told her, 'Grandma, I want to play in Germany, and I have a good offer, but if you don't agree - I won't go there.'
"Mother answered him, 'Why, you go where luck takes you and where they want you.
I have my account with the Germans, but you are in a new world, and I even see it as a victory over the Nazis.
You represent Israel in a German team.'
Only then did he sign the contract."
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Yuval Sussman
Holocaust Remembrance Day and Heroism
