“The moment I entered I felt at home.”
Miriam was born in a town on the German border of Poland. Just five days after the war broke out, on September 6th,1939, the Nazis arrived in her town. In the winter of 1939, the Jews in Miriam’s town were transported to Ghetto Lodz in a journey lasting two days in freezing and inhumane conditions.
During that horrible winter, Miriam’s family lived on a makeshift straw floor out in the street. A month later they were ordered to walk back at night to her hometown on the German border, where another Ghetto had been set up.
In 1944 Miriam was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a place, which she tells is impossible to put into words. Both the initial chaos on arrival and the ensuing months surrounded by death are beyond the realm of human language. The camp was liberated in the spring of 1945, and Miriam would begin her journey to Palestine. Miriam’s parents and most of her siblings did not survive. Only Miriam and one sibling survived.
Following the end of the war, Miriam took a ship called the ‘Biria’ in the direction of Palestine, with the dream of building a new home in a Jewish homeland. The conditions on the ship were very tough.The day that the State of Israel was declared, Miriam recalls dancing ecstatically on the streets. After so many years of living a nightmare, the dream of the Jewish people had finally been realized. During her time in Israel she has also been able to see her family grow, and is now a proud mother of 3, grandmother of 9, and great grandmother of 7.
Miriam has been a resident of the ICEJ Haifa Home for Holocaust Survivors for the last 2 years. Hear firsthand what living in the home means to her.
To show your Christian love and support to Miriam and other Holocaust Survivors and be a blessing today!