#WeRemember

Today, many Holocaust survivors live in Israel and have children and grandchildren who have served and are still serving in the IDF. They tell their stories so that #weremeber.

Malka Lieberman

“In 1944, they took me from my home and moved us to the ghetto in Transylvania, in Hungary and from there they took us to Auschwitz concentration camp. We were part of a big women-only transport to Latvia. SS officers were cruel, they went around with dogs and a whip in their hands. After a long walk we arrived at Stutthof concentration camp in Germany. At night they would close the door and whoever wanted to go to the bathroom couldn’t. We had a tin plate and we would have to relieve ourselves on the plate. In the morning we would wash it, and we had to eat off of it after.”

Malka and her grandson, Lt. Aviv

Helen Mankes

Helen was born in Belgium. She had a brother and parents at the beginning of the war. When Helen was only seven-years-old and her brother was only 4-years-old her parents sent them to a foster family in Nice, France, where they hid during the war. Her father perished during the war. Helen immigrated to Israel alone and and lived in a kibbutz.

Helen with her granddaughter, Pvt. Noa

Arie Zinger

Arie Zinger grew up in a Jewish-Zionist home in Lithuania. In 1939 his family’s financial situation deteriorated because of the outbreak of World War II and Russia’s nationalization of Baltic countries. In 1941 the Germans forced Arie and his family, as well as all of the other Jews in Vilna, into the ghetto. He fought the Nazis as a partisan in a Russian battalion and served as a battalion commander in the Artillery Corps.

After the war, Arie immigrated to Israel with his family, married Rina and had three children with her.

Arie and his granddaughter, Lt. Ayelet

Jacob (Yankale) Bregman

Jacob was born in Lithuania and was transported with his family to a ghetto at age 10. While many in the ghetto were sent to concentration camps, Jacob’s father received a work permit, which allowed the family to stay in the ghetto. Later, Jacob and his family were sent to Stutthof and then he and his father were sent to Dachau, but were split up there. While in Dachau, he was forced to do hard labor, such as pulling heavy carts. Jacob was on a death march when he awoke to find no Nazis in sight and was liberated. After his liberation, the Joint Distribution Committee placed him in a refugee camp. Soon after, he and his friends looked for their families. Jacob found his father while traveling down a road. His entire family survived with the exception of his brother, cousins, and grandparents. Jacob and his family immigrated to Israel where he proudly served in the IDF.

Jacob with his grandson, Maj. Idan

Elise Tibber

Elise was born in Belgium in 1936. When the Germans occupied Belgium in 1940, her family fled to a town near the French-Belgian border. Her family was eventually able to flee to France where they remained for a year. Elise’s family survived many roundups and her father was even caught with false papers, but was released on a legal technicality and wasn’t handed over to the Germans. After just over a year in France, on December 31st, 1942, she and her family were able to cross into Switzerland where they were able to get medical treatment before being transferred to a refugee camp in Champery. There were no schools in the camp and because Swiss law dictated that all children over the age of seven needed to go to school, Elise was sent to a Jewish family to get an education. Her father fell ill and was taken to a hospital in  for six months and her family was allowed to live freely in Lausanne. They all survived the war in Switzerland.

Elise and her grandson, Cpl. Theo

Augustine Krumholtz

Augustine Krumholtz was born in Galati, Romania where she lived until she was 3-years-old and her family was sent to a concentration camp on the Russian border. Her father was taken and killed at the camp next to hers. After the war, Augustine and her family returned to Romania where she studied until 1951 and then immigrated to Israel. She met her husband in Israel and they had two children together. Augustine is very happy that she lives in Israel with her children and grandchildren.

Augustine and her grandson, Sgt. Elad

Moshe Kukliansky

Moshe Kukliansky was born in Lithuania in 1923 where he and his family suffered many hardships during the Holocaust. They crossed a river bordering Poland, stayed in the ghetto and fled from it, and hid in forests and pits. They first hid in a potato pit and later in "permanent" pits.

Moshe, with determination, coolness, creativity, honesty, intelligence, and extraordinary robustness managed to lead his family and fight to save themselves even when they faced challenges that many people couldn’t cope with. It was his attitude that helped him save himself, as well as, his father, sister, and younger brother from being murdered in the Holocaust. Unfortunately, Moshe’s mother did not make it. The family does not know what happened to her and assume she was murdered during one of the first round ups.

Moshe and his grandson, Lt. Shaul