I have finally managed to find the time to sit down and write about my time in Germany. This trip has been filled with so many sentiments... so many thoughts... that I feel as though I have been in a daze since I have returned to Israel.
I never imagined spending a year in Israel... let alone traveling while here. I feel as though I am forgetting my "real" life at times.
Who am I anymore?
I have found a cafe here in Jerusalem, where I rushed after my last class. I miss when I used to go to Starbucks, order a drink and spend the afternoon passionately typing away on my laptop. The vibe here... exactly what I need. Man, I love it here. I can't stop thinking about that. I am so, so glad to be back. It's always emotional for me to think about how many others would have loved to be here. Would risk there lives and travel days to be here. Through my headphones, I hear Israelis chatting in Hebrew and dining over their food. An army officer comes over to ask me if he can have the chair at my table that I am not using, and I think of my grandfather who always dreamed of meeting people like him and took pictures with people like him when he finally got to come here 14 years ago.
As a child, I would look at the photos and listen to the CDs my parents had brought back home for us- and whenever I hear these songs they represented and WERE Israel to me for the longest time before I had the opportunity to come here myself- I stop in my tracks. Literally.
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| At the Western Wall my first month in Israel |
I used to dream of this place- this music created images in my imagination... and here I am living it. It's real. Whenever I hear the music, it's almost as if I am in two places at once- past and present, 8 years old and a 22 year old, my home in America and here in Israel- in the real homeland.
It seems that none of this has to do with anything, but these things are everything.
Everything.
The reason I went on this trip. The reason why it gave me pain and the way I managed to feel any joy from it. The reason it inspired me.
I am glad to be putting my thoughts out into words. I feel as though I am letting go of all that I have been holding onto in my heart. There were moments of tears, moments of laughter, pain, happiness, excitement and disappointment. I still feel all these things in unison, and still have yet to figure out what more to do with them and how to deal with them properly. There are major moments that hit me so hard... that I want to share them right away. However, this trip was a process. It is a story. And so I would like to write it out as such.
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I keep thinking to myself: I remember when my friend JR had told me about this trip a year ago. I was in nursing school and had no time to even consider plans for after graduation. I had hoped that perhaps I would one day be able to attend such a trip if not specifically this one.
I always think it's interesting how when something carries out... a moment or realization... to recall where it all started. Also to think about how things you never thought would happen... could end up happening. And how this could indeed be you right now, even though you never thought it would be.
So this story really began a year ago when I was told about this trip and overlooked not only the actual possibility of me attending, but also how much of an affect it would one day have on me. I had saved the flyer in a word document, which randomly got erased from my laptop. One day in December I had been looking into some traveling options since Europe is closer to Israel than to America. After I had decided my other options weren't going to work, I remembered this program. I was a month late applying for this trip.
That's the first part that hits me- that I remembered this trip a month after applications had closed. I emailed the coordinator to say I wanted to go and asked if there were any spots left. She told me one person had to cancel so I could take his spot. I got my documents and payments into the program at the last minute. I was meant to go on this trip. I knew that then.
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My group in Berlin, visiting the street where one of the group
participant's grandparents used to live. |
I still felt unsure about whether or not I should go to Germany. So many horrible things had occurred there. I didn't want to contribute to the economy. The atrocities would forever be engraved in the country's name. For me, at least. I felt that possibly I was forgetting all those I dare not to forget. Forgetting those the world never knew... the lives that were brought to an end.
I decided it would strictly be a learning experience. I could not see myself going out and having fun there anyway. This made me feel better. Also the fact that the trip was funded by the German government as one of its reconciliation programs. The purpose of this program- Germany Close Up- is to bring young Jews from America to the country to educate them about present-day Jewish life in Germany. This initiative was created to make up for (in some way) the violence of the 20th and 21st centuries and also as a statement against anti-Semitism.
Our trip began with an introductory meeting with the program founder, Dr. Dagmar. There is much for me to say here. This woman was so sweet and sensitive towards our group. Many people on this trip had family who had suffered and been killed in the Holocaust. Some of these individuals got to see the former homes, neighborhoods, synagogues, communities, and burial sites of their family members. Some of these people had been boycotting German products since they were children. All of us had met Holocaust survivors, read stories and seen films. This was personal. Sitting there was personal.
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| Taking notes during our introductory meeting |
This woman gave me an entirely different perspective of the German people. Though some of my views are still the same, this woman was a light in the dark. Not to say that all Germans are bad- of course not. It is just that it is difficult to look at people whose parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had been involved in the cruel treatment and murder of your people. Or any people at all.
Also learning about how the Holocaust is presented in schools today and to the younger Germans... this was interesting. While some partake in volunteering in the countries where people had been affected by the wars, and feel that what had occurred has what to do with them... many others feel it has fallen in their laps unfairly. They want nothing to do with it. Their families do not share with them where they were or what they were doing during those years. They may say, "It was hard for us during the war or at the end of the war." However, no word about their Jewish neighbors being kicked out of their homes, people they knew being attacked and driven (literally) out of their towns, how they may have not said anything or done anything to make a slight change or dent in someone's life.
I will never forget how at the former concentration camp to which we went, our guide whose name was Katrin, shared with us that there were German families living right outside the camp. When the Jews were brought by train- they would throw things at them and taunt them.
At the perpetrators museum, we saw photos of Germans spending time with SS officers. We learned about the love letters German women wrote to Hitler, how men dreamed of being SS officers because it was so prestigious, how there were so many who wanted these positions that they had to deny acceptance. We saw pictures of young German women happily sitting alongside these murderers. They were all murderers. Happy murderers.
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| Perpetrator's Museum |
We saw photos of German families. I was disgusted imagining how an SS officer could send a small child to the gas chamber, only to come home later that night to read his own child a bedtime story.
This is evil. Pure evil. More than evil.
I have no words.
The questions kept coming. Could anyone be capable of this? Could an entire nation of people be led to believe such a thing could ever be good? Clearly, yes. This nation. But could it have been any at all?
Going back to our guide Katrin- another German who was so sensitive, caring and kind. My group liked and appreciated her so much, we insisted that she join us for dinner- which she did. We met with some young non-Jewish Germans. I really enjoyed this.
I also found it to be very interesting that there are so many Russian Jews in Germany. Apparently 87% of the Jews in Germany are from Russia. Being a first-generation American whose parents and grandparents were Russian refugees, this was intriguing to me. I was pleasantly surprised to have been eating dinner one night with several fellow Russian Jews. I could have ended up with their stories. I could have ended up in Europe (my dad and his parents lived in Vienna for a couple of days before finally coming to America. The girl I sat next to during dinner was born in Vienna because her parents had decided to stay there). How different my life would be.
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Exhibit in the exact location where the book
burning would occur. If you stepped back
far enough, you can see bookshelves which
represented the books which were burned. |
Being at the location where the book burning occurred (today it is a university called
Universität Hamburg), and where the Nazi flags were once flying (Brandenburg Gate in Berlin)... was somewhat surreal. I do not know how to describe the feeling of seeing people walking by and living their everyday lives so normally... when so many horrifying things occurred there.
I mean, why wouldn't they live normally? Of course they will. WWII is history. It is just to imagine that this was the very place where people back then were also enjoying their lives so nonchalantly while at the same time people were being deported to concentration camps, were fearing for their lives, and were facing their last days on earth. And it was because of the parents and grandparents of these people I was looking at (well, not all of them certainly, yet many of them.)
By the way, there was a plaque by where the book burning had occurred. On it, it had a quote by someone whose name I do not remember. It said, "where there are books there will be people." That was chilling.
A bit more about Germany Close Up, the organization with which I travelled. It is one of several reparation programs begun by Germany to allow young Jewish Americans to come see what Jewish life is like in Germany today. This program- unlike many others- focuses on Germany today as opposed to what Germany looked like during WWII. This is an opportunity for young Jews to learn about Germany, exploring beyond what occurred during the Holocaust.
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| A clip from our bus tour of Berlin |
Even for those of us who did not have family living in Germany or even Europe- the Holocaust is a very sensitive topic for all Jews. There was a society of people- and there still is today, of course- who felt that all Jews were the cause of all problems in the world. The aim was not just to kill German and European Jews. It was meant to be the "final solution" to the problem that was the Jews. To the problem that apparently was our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. If it wouldn't have been them, it could have been us.
Some notes I had taken from day-day and what we did:
January 10th: arrival in Berlin. My initial experience arriving to the hotel in Berlin was quite funny. The man working at the front desk did not speak English. My roommate spoke to him in Yiddish, which worked part of the time. The water was not working properly and he planned to switch our rooms, but then we realized the water in general was not working so great. There were knobs on the wall that controlled the temperature of the water in both the sink and shower. I have never seen such a thing and hope to never again because the system was horrible. The water was either cold or hot. This was only for the first several days until we were able to figure it out.
January 11th: Orientation with the program staff and founder who I had discussed earlier. We all loved her and the guides we had- Andy and Natalie. Then we had a 3 hour city bus tour of Berlin. We went to Museum Island, we saw a newly rebuilt synagogue which was beautiful, the historic heart of Berlin, historical sites and buildings that had to be rebuilt because they were destroyed during WWII so were modern on the inside but old fashioned on the outside. Yitzchak Rabin Street (named after a former Israeli PM, so this was exciting for us to see)! Angela Merkel's office and the government official buildings. Berlin Wall and its remains.
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| My group on the first day- our tour in Berlin |
We then had lunch at an amazing kosher restaurant called Hummus and Friends before going back to the hotel to prepare for Shabbat. For services, we went to a community center for young Jews living in Berlin. We had dinner with young Jewish Germans. It was interesting to talk to young Jews from all over Europe who had chosen to live in Berlin. It is now an international city. Most people living there are not originally from Berlin. The location where we were staying specifically was a tourist location, so it was very clean and nice with a lot of bakeries and shops. I chose not to make any purchases, as I did not feel comfortable. I felt I had to keep this trip as one allotted for educational pursuits and not for the sake of having fun and accepting it as a vacation.
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| One of the stumbling stones we saw |
January 12th: I went to the Chabad House with a friend, which was very nice for me since I go to Chabad in my town in New Jersey. There were many Israeli tourists there, and a young couple. The woman was from Kazakstan, which I found to be very interesting since our families are from somewhat of the same region.
After lunch we had a walking tour of Berlin. We saw many sites and learned a lot of history. We got to see where Moses Mendelssohn is buried, where one of the oldest synagogues in Berlin once stood (we saw only the outline in the ground of where it was), and the previous home or synagogue (I do not remember now) of the first female rabbi, Regina Jones. We also got to see some Stumbling Stones, which are plaques in the ground with the names of Jewish families who had previously lived in the homes which the plaques were in front of.
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| Standing at the Freight Yard Moabite Memorial |
January 13th: We started off early in the cold rainy morning. We visited the Memorial at the Freight Yard Moabite, which commemorates the over 30,000 Berlin Jews that were deported from Berlin on those tracks. There was not much of the tracks left. Standing there felt somewhat disturbing. For many, this was the beginning of their end. So many people had stood right there where we stood and were forced to board trains. I walked away feeling as though so much had been left behind. All those people didn't get to walk away.
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The prisoners' "beds." Often three people
shared one. |
This day was very emotional, as right after this Memorial, we went for a guided tour of the Memorial and Museum at the Former Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen. This camp was used primarily for political prisoners and was different from extermination or death camps, as concentration camps were intended as places of incarceration and forced labor for those whom the Nazis deemed undesirable. Before our tour, we had a preliminary presentation by Katrin (who I also mentioned above). Some interesting points: this camp was in the middle of a town called Oraninberg. The Nazis didn't even try to hide it. There were German families living right by the camp and everyone knew what was going on (though some claimed they had no idea). The mayor wanted the camp there because it brought factories to the area. I remember learning in my sociology course in college three years ago, about how people treated the concentration and extermination camps as businesses. People were trying to make money off of the murder of other people. People were so cruel. Shoe companies would send heels to be "tried out" by prisoners, who were forced to walk miles in them on the uneven pavement. By the end of the war in 1945, there were 40,000 prisoners and the camp had expanded to the size of 400 soccer fields. Therefore only a small portion of the camp is now a memorial site. The brick factory was the hardest place to work in at this camp. Prisoners had 6-8 weeks for survival from their beginning date working there. These bricks would have been used to make Berlin into the world capital had Germany won.
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One of the last exhibits we saw. Where we recited
psalms. |
As we stood outside on that cold rainy day, wearing out coats and scarves and boots... we could only imagine how horrible it was to have been forced to stand out there for hours on end in just thin clothing. The officers would make the prisoners as miserable as possible- as if they hadn't already done enough. If one person was missing from roll call, they would make everyone stand outside no matter what the weather until that person was found.
We took a couple of minutes to read several Psalms (chapters of Tehillim) and went around in a circle and included anyone we knew who had been affected/murdered, who we wanted to include in the Psalms. It was for what we refer to as an "aliya of their neshamot"- a rising of their souls.
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Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe:
4.7-acre space with 2,711 concrete slabs. |
We then went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I was very dissapointed, as were many other people in my group. I wish I could say I saw the remorse felt by the people, but I did not. I felt nothing. The museum itself was underground because the designer didn't want it to be "in people's faces." He didn't want it to be something that others felt they had to look at. There was only one stone where the name of the memorial was displayed. There were no signs anywhere else in the entire area. As our (Israeli) tour guide spoke to us, there were people at the memorial taking funny selfies and artistic photos. I was besides myself. I was furious. What kind of memorial is this?! What a shame. How pathetic. How absolutely stupid and perhaps completely pointless. No signs saying to be respectful or that it is a memorial for people murdered by this very nation!! Another point. Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe? More like, "We the Germans murdered millions of people and we are actually sorry about this, though our petty sorry means nothing because nothing could ever bring back the lives of those we murdered so mercilessly. Not only did we murder them, but we also did it with cruelty and mocked them during the process."
Several years ago, there was a scandal about young teenagers taking photos at the memorial and they were called out online. Same things still occuring and the memorial has not changed anything. It made me think of how just as people were nonchalantly taking photos and casually frolicing while at the memorial, this was exactly what allowed the Holocaust to occur- the indifference to it all.
Some articles that express my frustration (scroll over the titles to view the links):
Artist Shames Disrespectful Holocaust Memorial Tourists Using Photoshop: "Visitors to the memorial often use the space as a backdrop for all kinds of goofy selfies and photos. To show a different perspective of what these tourists are doing, Shapira gathered some of these photos and Photoshopped the subjects into actual historical (and horrific) photos from Nazi extermination camps."
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All Holocaust photos in this blog are courtesy of
Neil A. - Victor Nahmias' 2nd cousin who is now
the gaurdian of Victor's 101 year old sister
who survived the war (more on this below) |
We went underground into the other part of the museum where there were actually photos and exhibits. There was one photo that struck me. I don't know how to say this. Every time I think of this, I get emotional. As I was looking at the photos on display, I stopped at one in particular. It was a photo (on the left side here) of people boarding a train. On the left side of the photo, there is a young boy standing and looking at the camera. I couldn't stop staring at this photo because the face was so familiar. This little boy- whoever he was- looks exactly like my little brother who is about the same age as this boy was when this photo was taken. If you were to wonder, "well what does your brother look like," I wouldn't even need to share his photo because he literally looks like this boy here. They have the same face.
I thought that perhaps I was feeling so connected to this boy because he looked like my brother, but there was more to it than just that. I just couldn't forget this. It was on my mind for the entire month after I had come back to Israel. Okay, so people sometimes have similarities... but there was something more that was getting to me. I just needed to know more about this child.
I couldn't hold back my tears. The entire day I hadn't felt an urge to cry. Not because of lack of emotions, but because I felt this all was too much for me to fathom. It was just so massive of an atrocity.
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| Close-up photo of the one above |
However, when I saw the photo of this little boy, I felt a burning in my eyes and my heart. The entire matter became so real. It was as if someone I knew and loved was looking at me from within that photo, and I had lost him and would never know what happened to him. It also really hit me how people literally lost their entire families. Parents and children were separated from each other, sometimes never to see each other again or know what ever happened to them. Children were murdered too and I don't understand it.
I wonder what happened to this boy. I wonder who his parents and siblings were. Perhaps he had a sister who loved him and never got to see him again. I don't know. I have saved this photo on my phone. I look at it from time to time. I feel that I can't forget him.
I have been searching the name at the bottom of the photo description, which says that the person in the foreground at left is someone by the name of Victor Nachmias. I have searched the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website and emailed the museum to find out as much as I can. I have found a photo online that seems to look like this boy, though I am not sure it is him (source for photo found
here).
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A photo I found while researching to find
out more about Victor Nahmias.
Neil A. later emailed me this photo
and verified that it is indeed Victor.
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Why do I care so much to know about this boy and what happened to him? Because I feel like I know him. Perhaps because he reminds me so much of my little brother. But more than that, he reminds me of every child.
I don't know how to better express my feelings. I just wish that I could reach into that photo to pull him out and save him. I feel so many things just about this photo let alone everything else, and I don't know how to put it into words. I think about the millions of children like him who were murdered and I feel helpless. It has already happened. It is what it is and is what it was.
I just imagine that they are in heaven and that is the only thing that allows me to put all of this to somewhat of a rest.
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The paragraph above was written about a week and a half ago. Since then, I have done some research on this boy and have been able to get in touch with his family! I have learned the story behind the photo and still have yet to hear back for a third time to get some more information.
During my research, I discovered more parallels and... well, you'll see.
Here I am including the conversation between me and Neil A. Our conversation will tell the story.
Hi Mr A,
I hope that this email finds you well.
My name is Devorah and I am a 22 year old currently studying in seminary in Israel. I have been doing quite a bit of research and am really hoping that you don’t mind me asking for some information.
I just returned from a trip to Germany. While there I visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. As I was looking at the photos, I happened to come across one that for some reason emotionally affected me and struck my curiosity. I was particularly struck by the little boy on the left side of this photo (I attached the photo I saw in the museum, above).
Perhaps it is because he closely resembles my little brother who is about the same age as the boy is in this photo. I am not sure exactly why, but since my return from Germany I have not been able to get this child out of my conscious and feel a need to know his story.
I noticed that it said the person in the foreground on the far left was someone by the name of Victor Nachmias so I looked up his name on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website and emailed the museum to see if I can get some more information. They emailed me back saying that I should look at more photos submitted by you since the photos on their website are courtesy of Neil A. Then I found those photos on your Flickr when I searched Victor Nahmias and your name.
As I was looking through more photos, I noticed that some of the individuals in the photo below have the last name Shami. My last name is Shamilov (though some people call us Shami just for the fun of it) and I am wondering if there is any connection. My immediate family fled Iran and settled in the Caucasus (Southern Russia) before coming to America in the 1980s. Then in another photo I noticed that the mother of Victor Nahmias (the boy in the photo above) was a woman by the name of Elvira (2nd photo below). My mother’s name is Elvira, which is not very common where I come from so this struck me as well.
I am currently writing a blog about my experience in Germany and was planning to include a paragraph or two about this boy. I will be submitting this written piece to the organization with whom I travelled (Germany Close Up- a reconciliation program funded by the German government). It is a program which focuses on present-day Jewish life in Germany.
Regardless of the blog, I just feel a strong desire to learn more about this boy. It may sound sort of strange, but again this has been on my mind for almost a month now. I have seen so many photos in museums and books and such… yet have never felt such a strong desire to learn more about anyone in a photo.
All the best!
Deborah
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Deborah,
I am struck by your “connection” to Victor. I had a similar experience, 15 + years ago, when I took my “Aunt Rachel” (Victor Nahmias’ sister) to the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. While exiting the room called “The Wall of Deportations”, I noticed this photograph. It had - Macedonia - March 11, 1943- written on the bottom. That sparked my attention and I made sure that Rachel saw it. March 11, 1943, is the day she has used as the Yahrzeit for her family. Her mother was concerned about her as a young woman and took measures to convince a neighbor, the Albanian Consul, to hide her. She dressed as a Muslim, became “Fatima Hussein”, and became the Muslim Au Pair for the Albanian Consul. There is much more to her story but that is how she survived.
All the Jews of that town (then, called Monastir, today called Bitol) as well as all the Jews in Macedonia - then under Bulgarian / Nazi jurisdiction, were deported to a tobacco monopoly in Skopje. From there they were all transported to Treblinka and murdered on arrival in the gas chambers.
There is something “furtive” about the look on Victor’s face. According to Rachel, he was supposed to have tried to sneak away and join the Partisans who were hiding in order to fight at a later time. He never made it. There was only one other brother that survived the war. Jacques Nahmias hid in Italy, married an Italian woman and ultimately moved to Rome.
When I pointed out this picture to Rachel, she froze then started to shake and cry. Finally she pointed to the boy in the left hand corner of the photo and said, “Victor, Victor — that is my younger brother, Victor.” She was pretty shook up. I took her upstairs to a room near the research area where some folks from the museum asked her about what she had seen. They immediately brought the photo up on their computer and started asking Rachel questions. It didn’t take them too long to verify that Rachel was authentic and knew an awful lot about what had happened that day. Then they retrieved a box of other photo’s that had been cross indexed to this deportation. They pulled out a large photograph of Jews standing outside the tobacco monopoly in Skopje and Rachel immediately pointed to her father, her niece and some others. It was, as you might imagine, a frightful and at once, amazing day.
About five years ago, Rachel received a telephone call from someone in Berlin. Her hearing isn’t that good and she didn’t want to talk to “some one” calling from Berlin. I happened to be there at the time and took the call. It turned out to be someone from the Museum of the Murdered Jews of Europe. They had heard about Rachel’s experience in the USHMM and wanted to know if they could use the photo and some other family photo’s showing her family (Sephardim) living before the war. That is how it got there.
You attached three photos to your email. There was an Elvira in her family… I don’t recall if that was her mother’s name. I’ll talk with her later today and find out.
Rachel is my father’s first cousin, which makes her my second cousin. My father, an Aroesty, came from a large Sephardic family from the same area. My grandmother, Matol Nahmias Aroesty, was Rachel’s Aunt and only relative living in America. Rachel came to America in 1950 as a Displaced War Person. When she found my grandmother, she was surrounded by family. She ended up marrying a Polish survivor, moved to Boston @1956 and became my “Aunt Rachel”. I’m sort of the kid she never had and am her guardian. She is presently 101, in great shape, living independently in Jewish Community Housing. I am with her several times a week.
I attach another photo of Victor from before the war (he attached the photo I had shown above- the one I was not sure was the same boy. I hadn't even had a chance to ask about it yet, but he had confirmed it).
I hope this response helps you. I’d be happy to answer further questions.
Best wishes,
Neil A.
(I cried when I read this email. The only thing that kept me together was the fact that I had to head to a class. I hadn't told so many people about this research- except for family and some close friends- and wasn't ready to explain to people about why I was so emotional about all this.)
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Hi Mr. A!
Thank you so much for your email! I really appreciate you taking the time to write out the entire story. After I had told my family and some friends that I was emailing you to learn more about Victor, they were all also looking forward to hearing back and are moved by his and Rachel’s story as well.
After reading through your email several times, I needed time to take it in and think of all the questions to which I would like answers.
Two things I had thought to myself upon seeing the photo and noticing Victor in it were:
1. I wonder what he is thinking (his facial expression sparked my curiosity) and
2. He probably had an older sister somewhere who was worried about him. This may seem pretty random to think, but being that I was struck by his resemblance to my little brother, I felt like I know him and that I could imagine the pain of losing someone. I just think it’s so crazy and amazing that I have been able to get in contact with his family and also his sister. I am happy to hear that she had found family and is doing well.
How old was she when she left home to live with the consul and how old was Victor in the photo of him by the train?
I would love to hear about what he was like. I want to dedicate my blog post in his memory and share some details about him if possible. I think these things are important, as the last of the survivors are in their old age and sometimes the Holocaust seems so far off even though it really wasn’t even so long ago. Every person has a story and knowing details makes these people in these photos all the more real.
If Rachel is okay with it, also maybe sharing some memories she had with Victor. Please tell her I say hello:)
Also, one last thing. This was extremely random (I do not believe in coincidences, but I do not really know why the name Nahmias seems to be following me). I laugh as I write this, but am also confused/surprised/intrigued by it. (Side note- I freaked out when I saw this. I sound calm and composed in the email but I cried when I saw the caption itself.)
I was scrolling through my instagram feed the day after I received your email and saw a post by Humans of Judaism. It’s a popular page on social media. Perhaps you have heard of it. I do not usually read all their posts and do not even always see them, but for some reason I did see this one on my feed and actually decided to read the paragraphs underneath it. Had I not expanded the caption, I would not have noticed the name Nahmias in the caption. This was the post.
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The Instagram caption written by my friend
Lauren. |
The designer is the daughter of a woman by the name of Lily Nahmias. I do not know if Nahmias is a common name, so maybe you are not even related to her. I was curious as to wether or not there is any connection. I was just so surprised to see this name in the caption. Out of all the people they could have written about and shared about. Even more surprising for me, it was contributed by my friend who is studying in seminary with me. She had no idea about me looking into Victor Nahmias. I told her about my research on Victor and she thought it was funny also especially since apparently she had written that post for the page a year ago and they decided to re-share it on that day earlier this week.
Just thought I would share that occurrence!
Also, the photo of Victor that you had sent me… I found that online as well and spent about 10 minutes comparing it to the one of him at the train. My friends were convinced it was him, but I wanted to make sure. I was going to ask you about that, but you already answered it so thanks for that!
I also want to include some photos of my bother- just because there is such a striking similarity. I thought maybe I was just being silly, but then verified with my friends and family that there is definitely a resemblance enough that it can be mentioned. My brother is now 11 and he got emotional too when I sent the photos of Victor to my family.
These photos are a bit older. In person the resemblance is easier to see. The photo of Victor at the train- he looks exactly like how my brother looks today.
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I’m with Aunt Rachel now. Yes, yes and yes.
I’ll get back to you with explanations.
Neil
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Deborah,
Below is a link to a short video of Aunt Rachel talking about Isaac Nahmias, her Uncle. Could he have married into your family? Possible connection to Shamilov?
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Hi Mr. A!
We had all been looking forward to your next email- my friend who wrote the article about Diane actually had me forward the conversation to her because she is so interested by it all.
Wow! So the last time she had seen Victor was the day before the photo at the train was taken?
Was the family aware that they were being deported the next day?
How many people were in the family besides for their parents, Rachel and Victor?
I have no way of knowing if Shami is connected in any way to my family. Another reason this has taken so long is because I have been doing some research. My family's name has also been changed around (according to my parents and grandparents). Our last name was entirely different apparently when my great great grandparents were living in Iran. They fled to the Caucasus (mountains in southern Russia) and their name had changed ( as far as we know). But I am pretty sure it had been Shamilov around the time of the holocaust. My grandfather was fleeing home at the time and his last name was Shamilov.
I looked up Gita Shami and this came up on Google:
It is the coat of Moshe Shami (my dad's name is very similar- Moshe Shamilov), who was married to Sara Shami (who is in the photo I sent you).
On that same page, there is a "page of testimony" with some Russian on it which I would like to look at but it wont open up for me. It is too small for me to understand what it says. I looked it up on Google directly, but it is too blurry to read. Here it is below.
I just submitted an inquiry to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum) online to see if I can get more info on Moshe. I am very curious.
Yad Vashem is literally on the mountain over from where I am living in Israel. I could actually see it from my apartment. I'd like to head over there sometime and see what I can find.
My little brother is also the baby of the family. His name is Shmuel and he is 11. Here are some more recent photos of him, which I think resemble Victor when he was older (at the train). I have attached them below in case they don't show up. I hope that his photos bring Rachel some comfort.
Wow, her last encounter with him- having him run by her and her not really getting to say goodbye- brings me the chills and brought tears to my eyes.
Any photos of him would be nice to see! Thank you for offering to share!
I would love to come visit some time! I come back in the summer. On Linkedin it says you live in the Boston area. My family was there last summer. We live in New Jersey, but my mother said she thinks it would be a beautiful thing to come and see Rachel if she is still up for a visit :)
Also, if she would like to share her story- I would love to hear it. I know some people are sensitive about it and prefer not to share. Also, she may just not want to. I would love to write about it. Like I wrote previously, the Holocaust is becoming a thing of the past and many people seem to be forgetting that it wasn't even really so long ago. There are so many stories that deserve to be shared and heard, especially by the future generations who will never get to meet survivors.
The blog post is almost done. I will make sure to send you a link when it is complete!
Unfortunately, this is all I have time to write today. I will let you know what else I find. Looking forward to hearing back! Please send our regards to Rachel!
All the best!
Deborah
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Thanks Deborah. I’m with Rachel now. She is amazed at the likeness between you brother and Victor.
I can’t write much now. She looks forward to meeting you and your family.
I’ll write more later.
Neil
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Hi Mr. A!
Sounds good!
I plan to complete the blog post by March 11th- the day Rachel considers to be Victor's Yartzeit (Hebrew date of the anniversary of someone's death).
I was wondering if anyone says Kaddish (prayer recited in memory of someone's death) for him? If not and Rachel would like for it to be said for him- I can have one of my rabbis here in Jerusalem say it.
We look forward to meeting Rachel as well!
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Deborah,
I’m sure Rachel would be quite pleased if one of the rabbis there said Kaddish for Victor on the 11th of March. Victor’s Hebrew name was Chaim ben Avraham (Sephardic annunciation).
We said Kaddish for her entire family at last Saturday’s service where Rachel lives. She hosted the lunch and two other cousins came. Rachel is blessed. Events are such that we could not do it this weekend which is closest to the 11th.
Rachel commented that this year, the 11th falls on a Tuesday which was the same day in March 11, 1943.
Good luck with your studies. Please send us a link to your blog RE Victor.
Thanks,
Neil
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Hi Mr. Aresty,
Amazing!
My Rabbi here in Jerusalem is very happy to be able to say Kaddish for Victor tomorrow.
I will also have my seminary dedicate the day of learning to Victor and the rest of the family.
Something else we often do on the day of someone’s yartzeit is bring in a food and have people say the blessing over it in honor of that person. I bought some snacks for that purpose.
Tomorrow will be a very special day for Victor's neshama (soul). All the blessings and learning will make an amazing aliya (rising) for his soul.
All the best!
Deborah
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| View of the Berlin Wall from the Museum entrance |
January 14th: We had a group discussion with Dr. Pragmar at the office. We discussed our thoughts about the first days of our trip. Some interesting points I wrote down: one trip participant shared that he was the first person to read from the Torah (what we refer to as having an Aliya) since his grandparents had fled Germany. It took 40 years after the war for Germany to make memorials for those who were murdered. I was shocked by how many Israelis are living in Germany, specifically in Berlin. many of them are attracted to the free education and international community. It was strange to me how there are so many memorials all over the country, and all of the ones that we saw and passed were attributed to dark times in the country's history. There were so, so many memorials dedicated to the death of so many people... I do not understand how people walkthese streets. Oh, but I do. Apparently many Germans do not like to discuss their country's history. As I mentioned above. One German we met shared that some young Germans do not share that they are German when they are abroad because they are ashamed of their country. After all, so many people suffered at the hands of the Germans. Still, I was surprised to hear this.
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The Jewish museum Berlin. On the green sign on top of the
entrance, it says, "Welcome to Jerusalem." |
Then we went to a museum about the perpetrators of the Holocaust. It was called The Topography of Terror, as I shared previously. It is located on the site of buildings which during the Nazi regime was the SS Reich Main Security Office. The street on which the museum is located was once a fortified boundary between the American and Soviet zones of occupation. The Berlin wall ran along the south side of the street and was never demolished. Actually, the segment adjacent to the museum is the longest extant segment of the outer wall.
Then we went on a guided tour at the Jewish Museum Berlin, which covers 2 millenia of German Jewish history. The building was one of the first buildings designed after German reunification. Some photos and videos from the museum:
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The last section of the museum focused on Israel and
of course was my favorite part! This was an exhibit of the
layout of Jerusalem! |
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Garden of Exile. One of the exhibits that also were
slabs of cement (similar to the Memorial to the
Murdered Jews of Europe). The architecture was
meant to send a message. The ground was slanted
and walking through the pillars, one was meant to
feel lost and anxious. The architecture also made
one feel as if s/he had been shunned from the rest
of the world. |
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Exhibit at the museum.
What does this remind you of? |
After this museum, we visited the Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue and met with the rabbi there. The grandfather of one of the trip participants used to be a rabbi of the synagogue before WWII. She shared an excerpt from his journal out loud to us. He was writing about his involvement in the synagogue. The current rabbi of the synagogue then discussed what Jewish life is like in Germany, as well as religious involvement. It was saddening to learn that majority of the Jews are reform. There were so many devout Orthodox Jews before the Holocaust, and now Reform has taken over. Assimilation rate is also very high- as in the United States. The Israelis who live in Germany are also not very connected to the religious aspects of Judiasm. It is more of a cultural addition to their lives, but nothing more. They come to synagogue very rarely, as do many of the Russian Jews. His view of the future was very dim and he expressed concern for the future of the Jewish people, Jewish life in Germany, Europe, and America.
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| Inside the Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue |
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Large, beautiful sunagogue in center of Berlin.
The inside had to be remodeled because it
had been set on fire. Was crazy for me to see
police positioned there every time we walked by
because when I read about Jewish life in Europe
in the news, I always read that Jewish centers are
constantly gaurded by police. |
January 15th: This day was titled, "Political Germany in a Nutshell." We first had a meeting at the office, and had a speaker come and share with us some information about Action Reconciliation Services for Peace, which sends Germans into communities where they caused violence during the 20th and 21st centuries. The organization was founded 13 years after WWII by Protestant Christians for Germans to account for the crimes that were committed by the National Socialist regime. These volunteers weren't even accepted right away by the other countries, because there was still bitterness felt towards Germans right after the war.
Then we met with an elder German statesman by the name of Karsten D. Voigt. Some points he made: Germany is Israel's most important partner in the EU. Germany post-war had an issue with being recognized and accepted again. Germany's primary focus is to keep its currently stable relationships stable, as well as to keep itself stabilized. Right now its relationship with the US is very bad. Germany's most important relationship is with the EU, and second most important is US. Conservatives in Germany have become more extreme. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups- which try to boycott Israel- are trying to appear on German Universities.
Later in the day we went to the German Federal Foreign Office to meet with a German diplomat to Israel. Her name was Anna-Lena Ruckheim and she discussed the German relationship with Israel. Her job is to prep the chancellor when she meets with the Israeli leadership. This woman's division deals with the Middle East, Palestinian Territories, and Jewish world issues. Currently, they are observing Israeli internal politics, while monitoring Israel's April elections and what it means for Germans. The German government feels a responsibility for Israel, but is also holds a critical view about the conflict. I asked how Germany views Palestinians violating international law in Gaza by sending incendiary balloons and kites into Israeli territory in order to kill Israeli civilians. I also mentioned Hezbollah in the north building tunnels into the north of Israel. She said that Germany understands that Israel is protecting itself. Overall, she gave very neutral answers.
We then had a panel discussion regarding initiatives combatting anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism. The panelists were a lawyer, an employee of the Department for Research and Information on Antisemitism Berlin, and a policy advisor to Member of Parliament Martina Renner. Some notes from that discussion: the Department for Research and Information on Antisemitism Berlin collects reports regarding antisemetic activity, publishes them, and provides support to individuals who have been targeted. It reports twice a year on anti-semitism in Berlin. This is for politicians and for the general public. In just the first 6 months of 2018, there were 527 anti-Semitic incidents. The anti-fascist and left wing policies are working against right wing extremism. The New Right Wing Party is called FDU and is gaining a lot of support. It came into existence in 2013 and is now the most popular. It got 10-20% of votes.
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| Dinner with young Jewish Germans |
After this panel, we went to have dinner with young Jewish Germans. As I alluded to previously in the blog, I ended up meeting several young Russian Jews, which was a cool experience for me. As we went around the table and everyone started introducing themselves and where they are from, I realized that I was surrounded by all of the Russians!
January 16th: We met in the lobby at 6:30am and got on the 7:30am train to Mannheim from Berlin Central Station. We sat on the train for five hours, which was actually really nice because it gave me an opportunity to think about the last several days. From there we went straight to Worms- the cradle of Ashkenaz Jewry. We had a walking tour of this city which is known as a former center for Judaism. We went to the Jewish Cemetery there, which dates back to the 11th century, and is believed to be the oldest in Europe. The Rashi Shul- named after one of the most famous Jewish commentators of all time- dates back to 1175 and had been reconstructed after its desecration in the Kristallnacht. It is the oldest synagogue in Germany.
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| Synagogue in Worms |
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The shul (synagogue) where Rashi used
to teach. |
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Torah scroll which had been burnt when the
original synagogue had been set on fire. |
We then went to the Jewish museum at the Rashi-Haus in Worms and had a little shiur (lesson), which of course covered some commentary written by Rashi.
We ended the day at the hotel (the strangest one I have ever stayed at- had no elevators so I had to drag my suitcase up 3 flights of stairs) 😂. Then we went for dinner with the Protestant President of the german Council of Christians and Jews for a discussion on the relationship between the Jewish and Christian communities.
January 17th: The last day of the trip we spent in Frankfurt. We went on a walking tour of the old town. This was a very interesting day for me. I got to meet a distant relative who I had been keeping in contact with for the past several months. It was intriguing getting to meet him in person because we had been long-distance friends. Our families and we have the same history, yet we lead such different lives. We are the same age and have several things in common. I imagine how my life would have been different had my parents not left Russia when they did, had I been born in Russia, or lived in Europe.
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| Walking tour of Frankfurt |
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Memorial to Jews murdered in the
Holocaust |
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Concluding thoughts:
This trip will forever impact me in so many ways. I am glad that I took the opportunity to experience Germany for the reasons pertaining to Judiams and Jews. The trip gave me a new appreciation for Israel and for my people. I also feel that I went to Germany at the right time- during my year studying abroad in Israel. I am so, so blessed to be here. Sometimes I take it for granted and forget where I am (it's been a little over 6 months now). This trip gave me so much pride for my Jewish heritage and religious values.
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Posing in one of the museums. This room was devoted to Israel and
I couldn't help but tear from pride and the excitement of getting to go
back home soon. Best way to end the museum tour- showing that we
Jews are still here and will remain. |
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| Back home in Jerusalem at the Western Wall!!! |
