10 Thursday, April 5, 2018 | Haaretz WEEKEND

A still from the documentary “Dear Fredy,” by Rubi Gat, who believes that Hirsch’s story was quashed by ’s communist regime “because he was a Jew and because he was a homosexual.” Yael Ozsinay / Mind the Gap Animation

Michal Aharony countries. While generally, new arriv- als to Auschwitz were immediately put through a selection, with 90 percent be- n 1940, an article appeared in ing sent directly to the gas chambers, ’s Jewish newspaper en- everyone on the September transport titled, “Healthy Youth – Healthy A hero who went down was moved into an empty camp that Homeland.” “Which do you pre- had just been built. This camp, which fer,” it began, “a proud and tall was denoted as “BIIb,” was referred Isuntanned lad, or a flabby, nervous to by all as the Familienlager (“family youngster with drooping shoulders? camp”). Probably the first. But what are you These new prisoners did not have doing about emulating him? Nothing!” loving, not fighting their heads shaved and were not forced The piece was written by Alfred to wear striped prisoner’s uniforms. (Fredy) Hirsch, a 24-year-old outstand- Although the men and women lived in ing athlete and gymnastics teacher, separate blocks, they could still meet, and a youth counselor in the Maccabee Today his name is almost unknown, but both before his death at Auschwitz, Jewish youth leader unlike in other parts of Auschwitz, Hatzair . He was revered by hundreds of children. A new film looks at his remarkable educational where men and women were separated would soon become a revered teacher by barbed wire. What these prisoners at Theresienstadt and later in the chil- work and his gay identity, and speculates that in dying, he helped keeped dozens alive didn’t know – but which has become dren’s block of the “family camp” at clear from survivors’ testimonies – was Auschwitz-Birkenau. While his native that, on their Auschwitz inmate’s cards, Germany marked the centenary of his the abbreviation SB appeared next to birth two years ago, few in know were banned from attending Czech and visit there. It was also meant to be an side the ghetto, and when I gazed at this very often, mainly to get children and their names. This stood for Sonder- of Hirsch and his educational efforts, German public schools. Their move- “old people’s ghetto” (Altersghetto), to landscape, I experienced for the first orphans off the lists of deportees. In behandlung ,or “special treatment” – and even fewer are aware that he saved ments were highly restricted and the which thousands of older from time the feeling that I was a prisoner, late August 1943, a special transport code meaning they were to be gassed in many Jews from death at Auschwitz number of places where they could Austria and Germany would be sent. because I knew that I would never be arrived at the ghetto carrying 1,200 six months. And indeed, in early March and brightened the final months of the play were reduced. The Hagibor sports The children’s living quarters were able to go to those places now,” he adds. children from the Bialystok Ghetto 1944, with very few exceptions, every- lives of hundreds of doomed children. ground in Prague’s Strasnice neigh- separated from those of the adults, “On one of these rambles, I ended up (in Poland), which had just been liqui- one from the September transport still Hirsch’s story – that of a gay Ger- borhood became Hirsch’s kingdom, and later some of the older children and at the playing field again. It was empty, dated. The children, who had already alive was sent to the gas chambers. man-Jewish refugee who had fled his where he gave gymnastic instruction teens moved into a “children’s house” and there was total silence. Then sud- been starved and neglected and had Why were the prisoners of the Czech land of birth for Czechoslovakia and to Jewish children and organized soc- (“hime”) where they slept separately denly, at one end, I saw an athletic- witnessed the murder of their fami- family camp kept alive for six months chose to sacrifice his life for children cer matches, scouting games, camping from their parents. looking figure throwing a discus and lies, were kept in isolation. They were in better conditions? Different theories – is closely tied to the story of the an- training and study groups. The head of the ghetto youth depart- picking it up and throwing it again kept alive to be bartered later for Ger- were proposed over the years, but it nihilation of Czech Jewry during the “We spent every day doing sports ment was Egon (Gonda) Redlich, and and picking it up, and so on, his entire man citizens, in return for their release wasn’t until the late 1960s, when histo- Holocaust. So why is Janusz Korczak, and games and singing,” says Dita Hirsch was his deputy. The children being dedicated to this motion, like and eventual emigration to Palestine. It rian Dov Kulka discovered documents another devoted educator who chose to Kraus, an Auschwitz survivor who continued their academic studies, for- the famous Greek statue ‘The Discus was strictly forbidden to approach the from the Reich Security Main Office at die with his young charges, known to knew Hirsch from Prague and There- bidden them by the Germans, in secret Thrower.’ In this silence, I recognized Bialystok children while they were in the Americans’ Berlin Document Cen- every Israeli child, while Fredy Hirsch sienstadt, in Rubi Gat’s 2017 docu- in their quarters, and they also played him as Fredy Hirsch. Fredy had an the ghetto, but Hirsch ignored the ban ter, that the rationale could be clearly remains an unknown hero? mentary “Dear Fredy” (which will be games and put on plays. Their Jew- attractive appearance. He didn’t just and sneaked into their bunks. understood. The documents showed Hirsch was born on February 11, ish counselors required them to bathe project authority, he also projected em- that there had been a possibility that 1916, in , Germany. When he daily, even with just cold water. Hirsch pathy to everyone who talked with him. a delegation from the International was 10 his father, Heinrich Hirsch, was among those who conducted strict He was a charismatic personality.” Red Cross that was supposed to visit died, and his mother, Olga Hirsch, re- cleanliness examinations, and he also Similar descriptions of Hirsch’s im- Hunger and sickness were Theresienstadt would continue from Why is Janusz Korczak, married. He had one brother, Paul, who ran cleanliness competitions, in which pressive appearance – his athletic build severe at the ‘family camp’: there to Birkenau. The family camp was two years older. Kiryat Ono resi- another devoted educator he awarded prizes. When weather and handsome face – are heard in the was a show facility built in anticipation dent Rachel Massel, 69, Paul’s daughter, permitted, Hirsch managed to obtain testimonies of nearly all the survivors Within six months nearly a of that possibility. It was part of the Na- told me the brothers were very much who chose to die with his permission to take the children out who knew him. Journalist and writer zis’ deception plan designed to refute quarter of the prisoners had alike. Both were charismatic athletes young charges, known to into the fresh air. He converted some , an Auschwitz survivor a the rumors about the real meaning of and leaders, and both were active from of wide, grassy fortress walls of the journalist who died this past November died. In the children’s block, the transports “to the east.” their youth in Germany’s Jewish scout- every Israeli child, while Terezin Citadel into playing fields, and at 94, writes in her 2002 book “Uproot- Block 31 at the family camp was however, thanks to Hirsch’s ing movement. Fredy Hirsch remains an organized soccer tournaments. A high ed Roots” that in Prague, at Theresien- the children’s block, and its guiding But while Fredy was a Zionist, Paul, point of these efforts was the ghetto’s stadt and even at Auschwitz, Hirsch efforts, the mortality rate force was Fredy Hirsch. Since gener- who studied at a Reform rabbinical unknown hero? Maccabia sports competition of May always held himself upright. His hair ally, children were sent to their deaths seminary, was not at all. When Hitler 1943, which was watched by thousands was always perfectly combed and his was almost zero. upon arrival at Auschwitz, it was very came to power, Olga, her second hus- of spectators. boots were always polished. The whis- unusual to see children at the camp. band, Martin, immigrated to Bolivia, Prof. Dov Kulka, a historian who tle around his neck was his trademark. Hirsch managed to create something together with Paul. “Fredy could have was 9 when he lived in the ghetto, re- Survivor testimonies say that Hirsch’s of a protective bubble for hundreds gone with them,” says Massel, “but he’d shown on Israel’s Kan television on members the first time he saw Hirsch face was the first thing the frightened He believed that his good connec- of children in the middle of the death already begun working with the chil- Holocaust Remembrance Day). “Every at Theresienstadt. “On the roof of one children saw when they arrived in tions with the Germans would protect camp. There is no written documenta- dren and didn’t want to leave them.” group had a counselor. And above all of these fortresses was a sports field the ghetto. He soothed and reassured him from punishment, but he was tion about the children’s block, only So he remained in Germany. the counselors was Fredy. Fredy was where track-and-field competitions them, and also secured medical care caught by a Czech guard, arrested and the testimonies of survivors, most of In 1935, when the admired by everyone. And when you were held,” Kulka says. for them if they needed it. sent east in a transport to Birkenau. them from the December transport, went into effect, Hirsch fled to Prague; look at this picture [a photograph ap- “I sometimes used to wander around Because of his good reputation and After the war, it was learned that all since the September counselors were he was 19. After a short stay, Hirsch pears in the background in the film], that field on my own, where there was connections, Hirsch was able to release the Bialystok children too were gassed all killed. moved to Ostrava and then to , you grasp the catastrophe. All of these no one around. You could see out into a few people from transports “to the at Auschwitz. According to that testimony, the chil- both also in Czechoslovakia, and de- children perished. Out of all these chil- the distance the whole landscape out- east,” and he took advantage of this During Theresienstadt’s first year, dren’s block was set up at the initiative voted himself to working with children dren, only a handful survived.” its prisoners were sent east to extermi- of Hirsch and Leo Janowitz, the sec- and teenagers. He worked as a coun- The subject of Hirsch’s sexuality nation in Treblinka and other camps. retary of Theresienstadt’s Council of selor with the Maccabi Hatzair youth comes up as early as the film’s first The first transport from the ghetto to Elders. A few days after they arrived at movement and as a Maccabi coach, and two minutes, in an animated segment Auschwitz left in October 1942. Most Auschwitz, they suggested to the camp was an active member of the socialist- in which we are told, “Hirsch couldn’t of the deportees were sent straight to commandant that the children spend Zionist Hehalutz youth movement. Un- fall in love. That was the gossip in the gas chambers on arrival. The trans- their days in a separate barrack from til 1940, he organized summer camps the ghetto.” And it is raised again in ports halted for the first six months of their parents. The excuse offered was for Hehalutz in the town of Bezpravi questions asked of the interviewees. I 1943, but this relative quiet came to an that the children, most of whom spoke and helped prepare Jewish young peo- asked Gat, who is himself gay, and lives end in September, when 5,007 people only Czech, disturbed the grown-ups’ ple for to British Mandatory with his partner and their three chil- were sent to Auschwitz. Among them labor, and made it harder to maintain Palestine. dren, why he put such an emphasis on was Fredy Hirsch. The tremendous discipline in the camp. Michael Honey, an Auschwitz sur- Hirsch’s sexual orientation. “It’s part overcrowding in the ghetto, the need Hirsch, who upon arrival at Birke- vivor who knew Hirsch from child- of who he was,” Gat says. “I tried to to thin the population and improve the nau was appointed to the powerful posi- hood, wrote in that in 1939, when the tell his story without omissions or pret- look of the place before a visit by an tion of kapo of the family camp, asked Nazis occupied Bohemia, his brother, tifying things. He didn’t hide it, so I’m International Red Cross delegation, as to be released from this position short- Shraga, and Hirsch cast lots to decide certainly not going to hide it.” well as the Germans’ fear of an upris- ly afterward and took over running the which of them would leave for Pales- Indeed, it was well known in Prague ing, led to the renewal of the transports. children’s barracks. Now he was offi- tine and which would remain to lead that Hirsch was gay. Nor did he hide it It is more than likely that Hirsch’s cially known as the Blockältester – the the movement in occupied Czechoslo- at Theresienstadt – Terezin in Czech – attempt to make contact with the Bi- block elder. The September transport vakia. They broke a match and who- or Auschwitz. “We’d heard that Fredy alystok children was no more than an from Theresienstadt brought to Aus- ever chose the long piece would get to was gay,” Kraus told me in an inter- excuse for the Nazis to send him in the chwitz 274 children 14 and under, with depart. Shraga chose the long piece, view, “but we didn’t care about that at September transport. In fact, someone another 353 coming in December. The and Hirsch stayed behind in Czecho- all. It wasn’t an issue anywhere.” like Hirsch could be of use to the Nazis vast majority of them, with the excep- slovakia. in the new camp they planned to build tion of infants and sick children, were He then moved back to Prague. at Birkenau. in the children’s block. There, in October 1939, at the last mo- Head held high As he had been at Theresienstadt, ment Jews could still leave the coun- In early December 1941, in one of the at Auschwitz Hirsch was strict about try, the group of 12-14 year-olds he first transports of Jews from the Czech Murals at Auschwitz health and hygiene. , a was working with managed to leave capital, Hirsch was sent to Theresien- Three transports were sent from Jerusalem artist born in 1929 who sur- for pre-aliyah training in Denmark. stadt, north of Prague; the ghetto at this Theresienstadt to the family camp at vived Auschwitz, told Haaretz, “he not The following year, they immigrated former military garrison had been set Auschwitz – in September 1943, De- only saved me, but all the children, be- to Palestine. Thus, all of them survived up only a month earlier. It had two pur- cember 1943 and May 1944. The fate cause he did cleanliness inspections.” . poses. One was to serve, when needed, of the people on the September trans- Hirsch would even force the kids to After the Nazis completed their con- as a “model ghetto,” in order to disguise port, including Hirsch, was different wash in the snow in the winter, or to quest of Czechoslovakia, in March 1939, the implementation of the “final solu- than those who had come with previ- walk to another block where there was they imposed restrictions on the coun- tion,” and to mislead the International Fredy Hirsch. “He had charm and a tip-top look. He knew how to talk to the SS.” ous transports, and also from that of a long pipe with a number of holes. try’s Jews. By 1940, Jewish children Red Cross delegation in its anticipated Archive Jews deported from other European “He made us bathe even with just a Haaretz | Thursday, April 5, 2018 11 WEEKEND

few drops of water so we would stay ture. “I saw that Fredy made an im- On the night of March 8, 1944, ex- resistance? clean, with one cloth for 20 children,” pression on Mengele,” he says. “That actly six months after their arrival at And why has Hirsch remained an Bacon says. Mengele was intrigued by how Jews Auschwitz, 3,792 surviving prisoners “unknown hero”? Gat believes that Conditions in the familienlager were could act like soldiers.” from the September transport were Czechoslovakia’s communist regime as terrible as in the rest of Auschwitz. Kulka, one of the few children from murdered in the gas chambers. Ac- quashed his story, “because he was a Hunger and sickness were severe, and the September transport who survived, cording to survivor testimonies, before Jew and because he was a homosexu- within six months nearly a quarter of because he was in the hospital block their death, the sounds of “Hatikvah,” al. It didn’t fit into their story. Today the prisoners, most of them elderly, had when the others were killed, describes the Czech national anthem and “The In- I don’t think that homophobia can ac- died from weakness and disease. In the educational efforts that Hirsch ternationale” could be heard from the count for it. That may be part of the ex- the children’s block, however, thanks oversaw in the children’s block. “He anterooms to the gas chambers. planation, but it’s not the main reason.” to Hirsch’s efforts, the mortality rate was the one who put together the team What we know of their last hours One can speculate further. Perhaps was almost zero. of teachers and counselors and tried comes not only from survivor testimo- Hirsch’s relative anonymity has to do This was apparently due to a combi- to maintain an educational agenda as nies, but also from the diary of Zalman with the way he died, as described in nation of the education and discipline much as possible in the conditions of Gradowski, a Sonderkommando, one of all the research to date. Who knows, that Hirsch insisted on and the benefits the camp,” Kulka says. He explains the prisoners forced to dispose of the maybe if he had chosen to lead an upris- he was able to obtain for the children that the daily routine was composed of bodies of the dead in the Auschwitz ing at Auschwitz, even if this had led thanks to his relatively good relations classes and scout activities. “The first crematorium. Gradowski died at Aus- to the certain death of practically all with the Germans. The children re- lesson I remember was a history les- chwitz during the Sonderkommando the adult prisoners and the children, ceived better food: Their soup was son about the Persian wars of ancient uprising of October 1944, and his diary he would have been remembered as a thicker and warmer than that given to Greece.” The counselors would recite was dug up there after the war. hero – like Mordechai Anielewicz, who other prisoners, and they sometimes entire books from memory. Hirsch led the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In the received such special supplements as gave physical education classes. first decades after the war, the domi- white bread, noodles cooked in milk, According to survivor testimonies, The children remember nant narrative of Israel’s Holocaust or a piece of cake – thanks to Hirsch. the walls of the children’s block were In June 1944, a delegation from the commemoration highlighted armed Prisoners from Theresienstadt were decorated with cheerful drawings of a International Red Cross visited There- resistance, not spiritual or intellectual allowed to receive packages from meadow, flowers and Snow White and sienstadt. As the Nazis hoped, the del- resistance. relatives outside the camp, and when the Seven Dwarfs, drawn by Dina Got- egation was impressed by the ghetto’s But Hirsch remains deeply etched packages came for people who had tliebova (later ), one of the appearance, which had been carefully in the memories of the survivors who already died, Hirsch would distribute prisoners. Another artist, Marianne worked on before its arrival. The visit knew him, some of whom are sure their contents to the children. Hermann, known as Mausi, adorned was termed a success, and no follow- that he saved their lives. “People loved Bacon explains that Hirsch was able other walls with drawings of Indians, up request was made to also visit the him,” Gat says. “Their eyes sparkled to get extra food for the children be- Eskimos, pine trees and monkeys. Birkenau “labor camp.” As soon as the when they talked about him. Not one cause “he spoke German as well as the The children spent a lot of their anticipated second tour was canceled, had any problem talking about his Nazis, he had charm and a tip-top look. Hirsch practicing gymnastics in Prague. Both he and his brother were charismatic the family camp became unnecessary. sexuality. People miss him, and they He knew how to talk to the SS. He was athletes and leaders, and both were active in the Jewish scouting movement. The six-month quarantine of the De- accept him as he was.” dressed like a soldier.” Beit Terezin Archive cember transport prisoners was due On the wall of the former school The younger children in the fam- “People loved him,” Gat to end just then (after which the plan building in Terezin, Czech Republic, ily camp slept in barracks with their the September transport, other than Hirsch personally, Kraus is certain was to murder them), but because of there is a monument; Hirsch’s face is mothers, and the older children slept says. “Their eyes sparkled those in the hospital block, were trans- he did not commit suicide. The ver- the heavy bombardments of German carved in stone alongside the text “In with the fathers or the counselors. when they talked about him. ferred to another, nearby detention sion told me by Dita also came up in cities, and their need for more laborers, memoriam Fredy Hirsch – gratefully, Each morning, the counselors would camp. Hirsch was among them. Before an interview I did with Yaacov Tsur, the Germans decided to conduct a se- children of Terezin, Birkenau BIIb.” bring those between 8 and 14 to the Not one had any problem this, he bade farewell to the counsel- another family camp survivor, as part lection of the prisoners from the family When the memorial was dedicated in children’s block. For some of the older ors and asked that they send regards of the research for my book “Hannah camp. Around 3,500 men and women 1996, Zuzana Rosinkova, who had been ones, Hirsch invented various jobs, and talking about his sexuality. to his friends in Palestine. The next Arendt and the Limits of Total Domina- who were deemed fit for work were in the children’s block under Hirsch, got the Germans to agree to let them People miss him, and they day, a rumor reached the family camp tion.” Tsur, who died in 2014 on Kibbutz transferred to labor camps around said: “We Jews don’t have saints, but we remain in the block. that Hirsch wasn’t feeling well. What Na’an, had closely studied the matter of Germany. Mengele also conducted an- do have tzaddikim, righteous people, Hirsch also arranged for the chil- accept him as he was.” happened on that day, and the circum- Hirsch’s death. other selection and had 90 youths who’d people of tzedek, of justice. Perhaps dren’s twice-daily SS roll calls to be stances of his death, remain unclear. According to Ota Kraus, Hirsch remained in Auschwitz transferred to the word could also be translated as ‘de- held indoors, in the children’s build- In Claude Lanzmann’s 1985 docu- had simply requested a tranquilizer to the men’s camp. cency.’” ing, which was heated in winter. For mentary “Shoah,” Auschwitz survivor calm himself, but the doctors, whom All those who remained in the family As she continued, “Fredy Hirsch Auschwitz prisoners, standing outside time producing plays. Many of the sur- , one of the few people who Mengele promised would be allowed camp after the selection – some 6,500 was a human being, a fallible person, for roll call in the harsh winters, of- vivors recall the play “Snow White” managed to escape from the camp, to live, sought to prevent the uprising children, women, the sick and elderly, not a saint, but he was a person who was ten for hours, was one of the worst in German, which even some of the says it was he who told Hirsch about and gave him a dose intended to put and others deemed unfit for work – a tzaddik. So let’s hope that when the tortures of camp life. In her interview SS officers came to watch. Hirsch the imminent liquidation. He also says him to sleep. They felt certain that an were sent to the gas chambers in July last of us who knew him is gone, a new for Gat’s movie, Ruth Bondy says that, forbade the counselors from talking Hirsch was asked by the underground uprising would mean certain death for 1944. One could say that by deciding generation will stop here for a moment “the children were very disciplined, to the children about death, the gas to lead a prisoner uprising. all the prisoners of the family camp, not to lead an uprising, Hirsch saved before this memorial plaque and say: not because of the SS, but because of chambers or the crematorium. That According to Vrba’s testimony, including the medical staff. Mengele all those who passed the selection done He must have been a good, brave and how much they looked up to Fredy.” was possible up until March 1944, which is questioned by a few other did in fact take back from the detention among the family camp prisoners from beautiful person.” It was also due to Hirsch’s influ- when those who had arrived on the survivors, Hirsch asked for an hour camp to the family camp a group of 22 later transports. ence, apparently, that the children and September transport were murdered, to think things over. He knew that a doctors and nurses, in addition to twins It could be that we will never know Dr. Michal Aharony is a scholar of Holocaust counselors were not abused by the SS. but after that, there was not way to revolt without weapons and adequate he would exploit for his research and a for sure the real circumstance of studies and political philosophy. She is the Bondy confirms Yehuda Bacon’s com- shield the children from the fact that preparation would spell certain death few other prisoners. Several survivors Hirsch’s death. If he did commit sui- deputy editor of the journal Dapim: Studies ments when she explains in her inter- death awaited them. for all the children under his protec- have testified that Hirsch’s name was cide, was he betraying and abandon- on the Holocaust, published by the University view that Hirsch’s neat and handsome tion. Vrba said that Hirsch then com- also on the list of prisoners who were ing the children? Or could the way he of Haifa, and she teaches at Ben-Gurion appearance and his perfect German mitted suicide by swallowing Luminal to be permitted to return to the camp. ended his life be considered an act of University (www.michalaharony.net). elicited different treatment from the Suicide or accident? (phenobarbital) pills. This is the narra- SS men. “I don’t remember them ever At the beginning of March 1944, tive that appears in nearly every pub- shouting at him or punishing him,” she when the six-month quarantine of the lished account of the children’s house says in the film. prisoners from the September trans- that mentions Hirsch. The children’s block, which was next port came to an end, a rumor, passed But there is another theory, based to the hospital block in Birkenau, was along by the underground at Aus- on testimony from Auschwitz survi- under the direct supervision of the chwitz, spread among the prisoners vor Ota Kraus, who was a counselor at notorious Dr. . Michael that the Nazis planned to kill thousands the children’s house. Kraus, who died Honey, an Auschwitz survivor who of Czech Jews in the family camp. The in Israel in 2000, said that Hirsch did died in 2011, says in testimony that is Nazis tried until the last month to cam- not kill himself, but rather died from held at the , ouflage the plan: Prisoners were told an overdose of Luminal given him by that Hirsch would speak with Mengele they would be transferred to a labor Jewish doctors in the camp, whose in- respectfully, but with confidence and camp, and were given postcards that tention was to make him sleep. Kraus boldness. When more children arrived were to be dated March 25 – that is, said Ludwig Sand, who was a phar- from Theresienstadt and the children’s several weeks after the planned liqui- macist in Auschwitz and the one who block became overcrowded, Honey dation – and addressed to relatives in actually gave Hirsch the drugs, told adds, Hirsch was able to get Mengele the outside world, telling them that all him this at a conference in Prague in to allocate another block for children. was well with them. Two days before 1989. I heard this same account from Honey also emphasizes a resem- planned operation, on March 5, Hirsch Dita Kraus, Ota’s wife, in interviews I blance between the two men in their ap- appointed a new head and deputy head conducted with her in 2014 and again pearance, dress and manner of speech, for the children’s barracks. very recently. which derived from their shared cul- On March 7, all the prisoners from Like other survivors who knew

here is constantly deteriorating, and thor of the Arabic-language book “Orga- GAZA people know that the violent struggle nized Chaos,” and now a spokesperson has no chance. We only want to make our for the “Great March of Return.” At the voices heard. We want them to know that time people thought the idea was crazy, Continued from page 7 there are human beings living here, just because they were afraid Israel would like everywhere else, with dreams, just fire at the marchers. we were standing, is student Hasan like everywhere else.” “This demonstration doesn’t belong Farhat. He’s 20 and he returned home to Farhat, who is active on the social to any organization. People here are Gaza in 2011, after spending six years networks, says 62 percent of the young tired of politics. People in Gaza have with his parents in Australia, while his people and 45 percent of the adults in nothing more to lose. There are people in father completed a doctorate in linguis- Gaza are unemployed, and his fellow stu- Gaza who prefer getting killed quickly tics. Farhat was happy to return. He dents are very worried about will hap- at the border to dying slowly in Gaza,” likes life in Gaza, even under siege, and pen when they finish their studies and he says. “I remember that when I was prefers it to life in Australia. receive their degrees. “As long as we’re in Australia we were once asked if we We speak via Skype. Farhat didn’t studying, there’s at least somewhere would prefer to die slowly in a cage full take part in the demonstration last Fri- to go,” he says. “And so many students of ants or to die quickly in a cage of lions. day, although he supports them. He has are prevented from continuing to study Almost everyone said in a cage of lions. two younger sisters at home, and they abroad. So many people in the world can To die quickly.” were worried about him and asked him enjoy freedom.” On Sunday, he says, there was a wed- not to go to the demonstration, fearing Farhat says the idea of a nonviolent ding near the fence. People sang songs he’d be hurt. march toward the border was thought up and even danced. “But we, those born “I believe that demonstrations are as early as 2011 by Ahmed Abu Rteima, in the ‘90s, we’re a lost generation,” he the last nonviolent means. The situation a Palestinian journalist and writer, au- says. Still, he’s glad he returned to Gaza.

heart, formed scales and calluses to true cancer in our body – the occupa- armor and wall off my conscience. tion. PHARAOH Living in Israel has made me into a And yet, this horrible week, tense, version of Pharaoh. brutal, tragic, something struck us Continued from page 5 It has made me into a person who with the speed of a miracle. can find a way to live with a govern- Israel, we were abruptly told, need for exactly the measures he had an- ment that relates not only to African not be Pharaoh after all. nounced in the afternoon, Netanyahu asylum seekers but also to millions The story of the Exodus from Egypt sent off a pair of weak, disingenuous, and millions and millions of Palestin- is, of course, preposterous. And yet, flustered and bitter Facebook posts ians, as property. despite everything, despite every in- saying he was “suspending implemen- I have become Pharaoh. We all stinct of judgment, the Jews got up tation for the time being” of the deal have. We have property that speaks. and did the right thing. he’d already signed. But which we can silence. We have The best people I know live here. After the river of blood that was learned that we can move people at Despite everything. And they’re work- Passover on Friday, one of the coun- will, jail them without trial, punish ing for people to treat each other as try’s most moderate and measured of them for no reason, wake them, roust humans. Despite everything. voices shocked Israel by posting that them, tear them from their families, Caroline Glick is not going to like he felt ashamed to be an Israeli. deny them the rights we take for this. Because that iron wall that runs I don’t share Army Radio anchor granted. Call them a danger. All of and ruins Israel just got a huge chink Kobi Meidan’s feeling. But he – and them. A danger and a cancer. in it, emitting light. Caroline Glick – made me realize what Living in Israel has hardened my Someday, maybe for all the wrong Passover has meant to me for many heart. It has made me into a person reasons, the occupation will end. We years: I’m disgusted with having be- who cannot believe that Israel will do will no longer be Pharaoh. And for come Pharaoh. the right thing. That Israel will make the first time in anyone’s memory, we Living in Israel has hardened my any effort at all to even begin treat the Jews will finally be free.