Eva Lavi, the youngest living Holocaust survivor saved by German industrialist Oskar Schindler, will participate in a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Jan. 31.
At the ceremony, Lavi will share the story of her family's rescue by being placed on Schindler's famous list, along with some 1,100 other Jews.
Nazi party member Schindler and his wife, Emilie, were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for their heroic actions during World War II. The story of how he compiled a list of Jews employed first in his enamelware factory in Krakow and then in his armaments factory in occupied Cezchoslovakia, saving them from being sent to the Auschwitz death camp, was the subject of a Booker Prize-winning book by Thomas Keneally, "Schindler's Ark," and then of director Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning 1993 film "Schindler's List."
Lavi, then a young child, and her parents, Fela and Wolf Ratz (Rac), were on Schindler's list as metalworkers.
Now 80, Lavi said in an interview with Israel Hayom, "My mother always told me never believe anyone and to always hide when someone comes around, and I hid well. I didn't cry, I didn't make a sound, and in the end, I survived."
Lavi shares her story with visitors at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum twice a month.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and ambassadors from nations around the globe are expected to attend the U.N. ceremony.
"Her story is one of courage and the resurrection of the Jewish people. Hearing the voices of the survivors and the stories of those tragically killed is the great obligation of our generation," said Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon.
