President Isaac Herzog this week hosted Jews who were saved by the Kindertransport – the name given to the operation that had children smuggled out of Nazi German in the months leading up to World War II – ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
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The event was attended by nine Holocaust survivors who received certificates of appreciation from the president, his wife, and the chairman of the International March of the Living, Shmuel Roseman.
"This event is especially moving. It is moving to see survivors after 85 years, it is moving to hear the personal story of each and every one of you, and the Zionist story of each and every one of you, but it is especially moving, because of the period we are in," Herzog said. "When I look at you I know that Israel's eternity will not lie! And that the people of Israel live! It really moves me to think about your parents, who made a dramatic decision. They did not know what would happen, there was no way to predict the future. But they decided to put you on the train, thereby saving your lives, and allowing you to build amazing lives with the next generations. Each and every one of you, in and of themselves, is a wonderful story."
Among the survivors was also Mirjam Baitalmi-Szpiro, a resident of Zikim who also survived the Hamas massacre on October 7. "I was not afraid. I do not know what fear is. I'm already used to it. The day after the massacre they gave me half an hour to pack before the evacuation and suddenly I had déjà vu. I was standing there, an 88-year-old woman outside her home, and suddenly I remembered the 3-year-old girl I was. I had not remembered these things before, the feeling of being a refugee, but suddenly I returned to the place I came from. And this is the second time I'm leaving my home."
She has been living for over two months now in a hotel in Ma'ale HaHamisha and hopes to return home soon. "The house was not damaged, and even the tree I planted in the yard two weeks before the war somehow survived."
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