by Leah Goldstein

At the Youth Movements Ceremony on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day this April, Yad Vashem Directorate Chairman Avner Shalev called upon the Israeli government to “fulfill its obligations to the Holocaust survivors living in our midst.”

Under the theme “Bearing Witness” - the central theme for Holocaust Remembrance Day 2007 - the youth movements saluted the Holocaust survivors for their contribution to the founding and strengthening of the State of Israel. The assembly - organized jointly by the Education Ministry, the Centre of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, and the “Generation to Generation” organization - was held at Yad Vashem’s Warsaw Ghetto Square in the presence of the Director General of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Shmuel Aboav. Participants included, for the first time, hundreds of Holocaust survivors, alongside scores of Israeli youth.

Shalev opened his speech with a quote from the testimony of Israel Aviram, a Holocaust survivor from Lodz, Poland: “I simply can't imagine how my life would have turned out without the youth movement [in the ghetto],” Aviram says. “During those two hours in the ‘ken,’ two or three times a week, I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t remember the hunger. That is, if all the people in the ghetto were hungry seven days a week, 24 hours a day, we in the movement—three days a week at least - were hungry for only 22 hours a day…”

Shalev addressed the youth movement members directly, reminding of their responsibility “to remember, to show solidarity, to embrace the survivors and to tell them that you will continue bearing the torch.”

Concluding his address, the Yad Vashem Chairman honored all the survivors “who chose to start their lives over in Eretz Israel. Those who took part in the founding of the State, who fought in Israel’s wars and who were fundamentally involved in shaping the fabric of life here.” After calling upon the Israeli government to assist the survivors in their twilight years, Shalev continued, “It is my hope that Israeli society will learn from the passion for life that the survivors have exhibited over the years since the Holocaust until today, from the spiritual resilience and creative and practical strength of these survivors, who went through hell and emerged victorious. Once again we affirm, here on the Mount of Remembrance, our promise to the survivors that we will do everything possible to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust in a meaningful way.”

The day before Holocaust Remembrance Day Eve, Chairman Shalev addressed a large crowd at the “Embracing Holocaust Victims” rally held in Tel Aviv. Once again, he called on the government to deal with the dire poverty faced by many survivors. And in mid-June, Shalev turned to the Finance and Welfare Ministries to find, without delay, the fastest and most effective path to deal with the elderly survivors. “These people, who endured the very worst, who lost their families and still chose life: who came to Israel, built the State and fought her wars – they deserve to receive the government’s help in ensuring their dignified existence,” he said. “Time is working against us: we must resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

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