A cantor for Holocaust survivors: "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be able to stand here today"

Holocaust Day in Haifa

Dozens of heroic Holocaust survivors, family members, soldiers, school students and many dignitaries, including Deputy Speaker of the Knesset MK Oren Hazan, participated this morning in the memorial ceremony for the Holocaust and heroism at the "Yad LeThavil" museum plaza in Haifa.
Holocaust survivor Motka Lieber, unfolds part of his survival story and did not leave a dry eye:

"I took straw scattered on the manure and ate what the pigs eat"

"We stood in the lines, all of us holding hands and we knew that we were going to be eliminated. My mother bent down and told me to try to escape from here, maybe you'll be saved and tell what happened here. I didn't think much and ran towards the forest and since then I didn't know anything about my parents, brothers and sisters," he said in a choked voice with tears in his eyes and continued. "For months I walked alone in the forest without meeting people and ate what was in the forest. Every now and then I would go out of the forest and try to go to gentile houses in villages where the houses are far from each other and next to every house there is a dog so that every time I saw a dog I would not go in. Until one day I came to a house without a dog , I went into the pig pen, took straw scattered on the manure and ate what the pigs eat, and it would repeat itself every time."

"One day I saw smoke from a campfire, I approached the gentiles there because I was already discouraged. Those gentiles told me that we are cutting wood for a Russian prisoner of war camp and there are people here who come to work in the morning and at night and bring them back and children are not allowed to be there, but if you try to crawl between their legs you can hide there and receive Food". And that's how Mutaka managed to get into the camp and hide there, but his story didn't end there. Mutka, who was only 9 years old, had to go through an unbearably difficult journey that is difficult to describe in words, but he managed to survive and tell his difficult story and the horrors that the Nazis inflicted on the Jews.

"The scar of the Holocaust is in the soul of every Jew, whether he is a member of a family of survivors or not"

MK Oren Hazan: "The State of Israel, a Jewish state, the home and security of the Jews all over the world unites within it a large and united Jewish family, sometimes with a few disputes - but there is one pain that has accompanied us since the establishment of the state until today, a pain that will not go away. This family could have been much bigger if they had not been murdered , six million of our brothers and sisters were slaughtered and buried alive by the Nazi oppressor. The scar of the Holocaust is in the soul of every Jew, whether he is a member of a family of survivors or not. We are the last generation that has in part the great privilege, a right to know first hand, to feel, hear and experience the pain, the stories of those who on their last path reached where we are today. I appeal to the young people who participate in the ceremony and ask you to force yourselves, take advantage of this right, hear, feel and experience the first testimony, these things will not come back."

Judith Satz, representative of the Christian embassy: "We stand on this day to remember all those who were murdered in the Holocaust and to honor them, but our hearts today are especially with those who are still alive, those who lived through the Holocaust and feel the pain of that terrible time. We salute you because with all the emptiness in your soul that you carry to this day, you build this beautiful country, families of grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

"I am the representative of millions of Christians from at least 80 countries in the world. I asked myself if I had lived during the Holocaust what I would have done to the Jews and I discovered that it is impossible to know, but I do know how to answer the question what we must do and are doing today for Israel and the Jewish people and that is the test Ours. We will fight against anti-Semitism all over the world and will continue to give a platform to Holocaust survivors in Israel and around the world through films and true stories to educate the world that this will not happen again."

"If the State of Israel was in the Holocaust there would be no Holocaust"

The CEO of the Yad Ezer Association to a member Shimon Sabag:"Three months ago I met with the Prime Minister and told him about the Holocaust survivors that he should help them in everything and he promised to help. He has made and there are some changes but more needs to be done. One thing he told me and engraved in my heart 'If the State of Israel was in the Holocaust there would be no Holocaust'. Today We are a young but strong country and I am sure that our soldiers will protect us."

The host of the journalistic ceremony and media person Yoni Hilleli said about Sabag: "Sabeg, he is the son of Holocaust survivors and dedicates his life to the Holocaust survivors. He gives more than 100 survivors a roof over their heads and to hundreds more every day he provides hot meals, medical, nursing, psychological and pharmaceutical care. As everyone can see, he is a young man so they will enjoy him For many years to come, he employs hundreds of volunteers and all the donations go to the survivors. He set up a charity center for Holocaust survivors with dozens of properly equipped rooms. He worked day and night to raise funds and promised the survivors that he would never leave them.

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Helping a friend - Haifa[/tags:3r5cklpk]