JERUSALEMJERUSALEM YadYadQUARTERLY MAGAZINE, VashemVashem VOL. 49, SPRING 2008 H0olocaust 6 Survivors in Israel 60 Years Since the Establishment of the State The Central Theme for Holocaust Remembrance Day 2008 “My Homeland” - New Exhibition (pp. 4-5) JERUSALEM Contents YadYadMAGAZINE, VOL. VashemVashem 49, Nissan 5768, April 2008 Published by: Published by: Holocaust Survivors in Israel 2-3 60 Years Since the Establishment of the State Yad Vashem The Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ but they had not survived and the young women Remembrance Day 2008 decided to emigrate to Eretz Israel. Thousands of other Jews made the same decision, some from The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ New Exhibition 4-5 Remembrance Authority the mass movement known as the Bricha (escape) My Homeland: Holocaust Survivors in Israel Chairman of the Council: JosephProfessor (Tommy) Szewach Lapid Weiss that propelled them to the shores of the Mediterranean. Their ultimate dream was to join Vice Chairmen of the Council: Dr. Yitzhak Arad Education 6-7 Dr. Israel Singer “We all must learn not to be bystanders” the Jewish settlement and participate in the struggle Professor Elie Wiesel Professor Elie Wiesel First-Ever International Youth Congress at Yad Vashem for national independence. Orphaned teenagers Chairman of the from the camps and the forests, along with women Directorate: Avner Shalev Global Cooperation in Holocaust Education 8-9 and children, partisans and soldiers in the armies Director General: NathanIshai Amrami Eitan who had fought the Nazis boarded ships to make From the Streets of the Ghetto 10-11 Head of the their way clandestinely across the sea. When these International Institute to the World Wide Web “illegal immigrants” reached shore, they were for Holocaust Research: Professor Professor David David Bankier Bankier Yad Vashem’s Photographic Collection Uploaded immediately arrested by the British and Chief Historian: Professor Dan Michman to the Internet placed—once again—behind barbed wire. Academic Advisors: Professor Professor YehudaYehuda BauerBauer After the United Nations General Assembly Professor Israel Gutman Torchlighters 2008 12-13 resolution and the declaration of the Jewish State, Members of the Yad Vashem Directorate: New Publications 14 the gates of the country opened, and the immigrants ShlomitNimrod Amichai,Barkan, Edna Edna Ben-Horin,Ben-Horin, Chaim Chesler, Abraham Duvdevani, NoachOded Eran, Flug, StefanStefan Grayek,Grayek, Yad Vashem and Time Inc. Publish New Edition of longingly cast their eyes at the approaching shoreline Moshe Ha-Elion, Yehiel Leket, TzipiLinda Livni,Olmert, Rutka’s Notebook and tasted oranges for the first time in their lives. Adv.Galila Shelly Ron-Feder-Amit, (Shlomo) Malka, Adv. LindaDov Shilansky, Olmert, Dr. Many young people rushed to join the defense Adv.Israel Dov Singer, Shilansky, Amira Stern,Effi Shtensler, Professor Baruch Jochanan Shub, 27 January 15 forces, without asking for a moment of recuperation AmiraStessman, Stern, Ronit Adv. Tirosh, Shoshana Adv. Weinshall, Shoshana Weinshall, International Holocaust Remembrance Day Eli Zborowski,Zborowski Dudi Zilbershlag or quiet. They were among the dedicated fighters Marked Worldwide THE MAGAZINE on several fronts, in breaking the siege on Jerusalem, THE MAGAZINE in defending the Etzion Bloc, and everywhere else Editor-in-Chief: Iris Rosenberg News 16-19 Editor-in-Chief: Iris Rosenberg they were sent. Their comrades-in-arms quickly Managing Editor: Leah Goldstein Managing Editor: Leah Goldstein Friends Worldwide 20-23 learned to appreciate their enthusiasm and Editorial Board: Yifat Bachrach-Ron dedication. In 1948, volunteers from Editorial Board: DeborahYifat Bachrach-Ron Berman Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ 24 SusanOrit Guttel Weisberg Machal—overseas recruits—arrived, and joined the CynthiaBenzi Kluwgant Wroclawski Remembrance Day 2008 fighting units. By the second half of 1948, about EsteeCynthia Yaari Wroclawski Program of Events at Yad Vashem Estee Yaari half of all IDF combat soldiers were new Editorial Coordinator: Lilach Tamir-Itach Editorial Coordinator: Lilach Tamir-Itach immigrants. Many fell in battle, among them the Language Editor: Leah Goldstein last remnants of entire families. Language Editor: Emma Sass Proofreader: Ezra Olman With the birth of the young state, a new battle Translated by: Sagir Translations Inc. by Dr. Bella Guterman Translated by: Hever Translators’ Pool (Intl) was set before the survivors: the struggle to make Assisted by: Alexander Avraham, Professor I came to Israel on the Tel Chai. We were caught a living, build a home and establish a new family. David Bankier,Assisted Rachel by: Ehud Barkai, Amir, Shaya Alexander Ben Yehuda, Avraham,Dalia Cohen, Professor Osnat David Levy, Bankier, Ayala Mizrachi,Rachel Barkai, Dana and sent to the Atlit detention camp. Because They strove for these goals relentlessly out of a CalanitPorath, Dr.Benhaim, Motti Shalem,Shaya Ben Amanda Yehuda, Smulowitz, Dalia Cohen, Hillel of my young age—17—I was released… I keen desire to become part of Israeli society, and Dr.Solomon, Bella Guterman, Irena Steinfeldt Nadia Jacobson, Limor Karo, “ Ayala Peretz, Dana Porath, Elli Sacks, Amanda decided to join the Palmach… In March 1948, took the initiatives required. Living in tin huts, Smulowitz, Photography: Amir Wolf Yossi Ben David, Isaac Harari when Jerusalem was beseiged, my company was sent to tents, immigrant and transit camps did not deter join up with the city. We passed Sha’ar Hagai and them. The economic crisis, the deprivations of the Photography:Production: DfusYossi KalBen David, Isaac Harari managed to make it to Ma’ale Hahamisha without Austerity Period, and the difficulties of learning Production: Design: StephanieKeter Press & Ruti Design being attacked… I remember the battle on Har Adar Hebrew and assimilating into Israeli culture did not 6 This magazine Design: was published Stephanie with& Ruti the Design assistance as one of the fiercest. We bonded under fire…” weaken their resolve: “During the first years, I wanted, This ofmagazine Canit Hashalomwas published Investments with the LTD. assistance So related Holocaust survivor Shulamit Garbash like [many] survivors, to distance myself from my of Canit Hashalom Investments LTD. Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine to Yad Vashem a decade ago. During the Shoah, the past. I wanted to be like the native-born Israelis, just P.O.Yad Box Vashem 3477, Jerusalem 91034,Magazine Israel Dutch-born Garbash was interned in concentration to live the problems of the moment,” recalls Yad Tel:P.O. 972-2-6443413, Box 3477, Jerusalem Fax: 972-2-6443409 91034, Israel and slave labor camps, and forced on a death march. Vashem Academic Advisor Prof. Israel Gutman. Tel: 972-2-6443413,[email protected] Fax: 972-2-6443409 [email protected] She completed her testimony with the following words: With no help, and little governmental financial www.yadvashem.orgISSN 0793-7199 “During the time I served in the Palmach, a fraternal assistance, the survivors built new lives. Clinging ©Articles appearingISSN in 0793-7199 this issue may be reprinted bond forged between us—the fighters—which made to their Jewish identity, they became active partners ©Articles withappearing proper in acknowledgement. this issue may be reprinted me feel, even during the hardest times, that the State in the most important communal endeavor of the with proper acknowledgement. Yad Vashem’s activities are supported by of Israel was my home.” Jewish people of the 20th century—the theYad Ministry Vashem’s of activitiesEducation, are Culture supported and by Sport the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport After WWII, Garbash and her sisters returned to establishment and development of the State of the Claims Conference the Netherlands, in the hope of finding their parents, Israel. and the JewishClaims Agency Conference for Israel and the Jewish Agency for Israel 2 Holocaust Survivors in Israel Photo courtesy of The Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem 60 Years Since the Establishment of the State The Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs’ 0and Heroes’ Remembrance Day 2008 The years and of armed combat. They described the last or because they themselves wanted to forget. 6passed, and the steps of those who collapsed on the death But in recent decades they broke their silence, survivors lived marches—on the very brink of liberation—and sensing that the time had come to leave a legacy through social, political testified to the deeds of the Righteous Among of Holocaust remembrance. Over the years, and economic crises as well as times of great the Nations, a small ray of light amid the great their children and grandchildren have learned achievement. They became accomplished in every darkness. They commemorated the story of the that the struggle of the survivors is a story of aspect of life: industry, science, art, literature and annihilated in memorial books, monuments and heroism. the media. In every field, their names are prominent. personal memoirs, and today they continue this Today, having established their lives and merited Most importantly, they were dedicated to endeavor by giving public testimony and escorting to see grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the commemoration: remembering their own families, delegations of students, educators and soldiers to survivors continue to tell the story of their their communities and each one of the six million sites in Eastern Europe. immigration, absorption and building new lives in Holocaust victims. They told stories of heroism, Some survivors kept silent for many years, Israel—a wondrous achievement that knows no of the sanctification of life in the ghettos and camps, either out of a wish not to burden their children equal in human history. www.yadvashem.org for a special mini-website for Holocaust Remembrance Day 2008 for a new online exhibition, “To Build and to Be Built” 3 “… After by Prof. Hanna Yablonka immigrating to th Israel, my spirits s Israel celebrates its 60 anniversary, its population were raised by of Holocaust survivors numbers some 250,000, two things: fruit about half those who arrived here since the juice, and the A establishment of the State.