Program Stories

Nailya has warm memories of her childhood. She grew up part of a vibrant, family-like Jewish community in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

“There were several alarms in Tiberias, and I was really stressed,” says Aliah. “It reminded me of the German planes I saw in Morocco when I was a child...

“I heard my neighbour screaming.” says Alla who was suddenly woken up by sirens and yelling on October 7, 2023. 

When we met with sweet 74-year-old Ella, she first showed us her necklace which holds a meaningful photo of two of her adult children who were murdered on October 7, 2023.

Just as her mother’s love saved Dora’s life during the darkest days of the Holocaust, so too did her son’s love help her survive October 7th.

“I was a 9-year-old girl and I remember the first time the German planes dropped bombs on Kyiv, Ukraine. I ran with hundreds of other people, searching for a hiding place. I remember we hid in an underground passage for hours; it was very scary.” 

Maya remembers celebrating Jewish holidays in secret as a child when Jewish traditions weren’t allowed — this is why providing a box of matzah on Passover means so much to Holocaust survivors like Maya. 

Mikhail is a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor with a very difficult life behind him—but hope for the life he has left. It wasn’t always that way.

Born as World War II began, Lidiya never knew her father. The young Jewish man left his young wife to be a pilot, fighting the Nazis. With a baby in her arms, Lidiya’s mother soon received word that her husband had been killed in battle. The young Jewish mother was left all alone—to flee with her loved ones and her beloved baby as the Nazis approached.

Luiza was born in Russia in 1927. She was one of five siblings. And she remembers World War II: “The war broke out when I was 13 years old, we all took part in the evacuation; somehow we survived.

Genia, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, was born to a Jewish family in Ukraine in 1936.

Nina remembers when World War II arrived. Nina was just seven years old and lived with her Jewish family in Russia.