Elderly Holocaust survivors living out the last years of their lives have struggled with and faced unique PTSD throughout their lives, but especially in the past year. A new initiative seeks to honor the survivors, celebrate them, and provide encouragement. The largest number of survivors live in Israel. Unique services are provided for them, but the struggles they faced in general, and in the wake of the pandemic, have caused many to revisit deep trauma that they experienced as young men and women, or as children. Other than dying at an alarming rate as they age, survivors increasingly live below the poverty line, making it difficult in the winter to allocate limited resources on heat, hot food, and medicine that sustains them. During the pandemic, many were isolated and shut in, unable to see family and loved ones. This caused added trauma whether they had been interned in concentration camps, or whether they lived in hiding for years.
This year, even though they have survived, and indeed many have thrived, for many it’s important to recognize that their lives have not been easy. Because in a generation there will be no survivors left, there’s a new movement to celebrate Holocaust Survivor Day on June 24. This new initiative is being spearheaded in Poland, from where many of the survivors came, where they suffered, and where their families and entire communities were slaughtered.
Unlike Holocaust Memorial Day when we mourn the 6 million Jews who were murdered, this day is dedicated to celebrating and encouraging the survivors. There’s scarcely a Jewish community in the world that does not observe Yom HaShoah, the somber memorial day on which those murdered, and the huge loss of and to the global Jewish community, are remembered.
My friend, Rabbi Avi Baumol, who serves as rabbi to the Krakow Jewish community shared movingly, “Holocaust Survivor Day aims to focus not on the solemnity of the Holocaust but on the resilience of those who survived; not crying for what was destroyed but rejoicing with those who managed to survive and keep on living their lives despite the past. As Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) is my personal (day of mourning), this will be my personal day of celebration. I will be celebrating with my grandmother who I am very fortunate to have still in my life, and I intend to (at least virtually) dance with her on this day.”
One cannot underestimate or discount the suffering that survivors experienced in Nazi Europe, or even how it traumatized and scarred them for the rest of their lives. Their children, known as second generation survivors, also suffer trauma that was inflicted indirectly, through living vicariously and imagining their parents’ experiences. It’s long overdue to have a day on which to celebrate them, but as a community of caring people, it’s important that doing so not be limited to one day. This is an important start.
Recognizing the need to honor the survivors, the Genesis 123 Foundation has established a way in which people all around the world can provide real comfort, virtually, through Hug A Holocaust Survivor. This is the last generation that there will be elderly Holocaust survivors among us. The program allows people to send a personal note of support and encouragement that will be delivered to elderly and shut-in Holocaust survivors.
Working in Krakow among the remnants of a Jewish community that’s undergoing a revival, Rabbi Baumol reflected on a personal note regarding his grandparents, underscoring why celebrating survivors is so important. “From my grandparents who were survivors, I learned a different perspectives on the Holocaust. I learned about their challenges of staying alive during the war and then the postwar rebuilding of their lives, finding each other, starting a very successful business, and building a family. They taught us about the seemingly limitless capacity to emerge from the depths of tragedy and to live a ‘normal looking’ life. They taught me in their actions, their decisions, and their attitudes the meaning of survival. It meant never forgetting the past but at the same time being laser-focused on a future, on building lives, on maintaining the traditions of their heritage but shaping a new legacy for their children and grandchildren.”
Holocaust Survivor Day celebrates the extraordinary people who survived the Holocaust and built new lives. Each year there are fewer and fewer survivors among us. By celebrating the survivors, even those who have already died, it is a way of honoring them and comforting their children as well. As Poland has a fraction today of the 3-million-member Jewish population that existed before the Holocaust, it’s intuitive that by organizing this event in Krakow, many non-Jews will participate.
For non-Jews around the world who don’t know or live among survivors, many never even meeting survivors or hearing their stories, the Hug A Holocaust Survivor program is especially meaningful as it provides a way to express comfort and support to these elderly people living in the twilight of their lives. Because it’s electronic, words of encouragement can be sent in any language, and will be translated into Hebrew, Yiddish, or Russian, and shared as widely as possible. One church in the U.S. has already engaged families so that children can be part of blessing the survivors. The pastor said simply, “We need to love on them.” The possibilities as to how one can participate are endless. But time is not. Every day, more and more survivors die. The opportunity to reach out is winding down.