Israel bid farewell on Thursday to Nechama Grossman, the nation’s oldest Holocaust survivor, who passed away at the remarkable age of 109. Her passing coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day devoted to memorializing the six million Jews who perished. Grossman’s funeral was held the next day in Arad, the southern city where she had made her home for most of her life.
Born in 1915, Grossman survived the horrors of Europe during the Holocaust and eventually made her way to Israel, settling in Arad and raising a family there. Her resilience became a living testament to the strength of the Jewish people in the aftermath of unimaginable suffering.
Kan reported that Grossman leaves behind a large and growing family: two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Earlier this week, just days before her passing, her son Vladimir Schwatz spoke publicly about her enduring legacy.
“My mother is one of the oldest Holocaust survivors in the world,” he shared. “She experienced the worst and she survived. We must all remember her Holocaust story, remember her survival, so that her past never becomes our future.”
On the same day, another survivor’s life came to a close. Eve Kugler, a longtime advocate for Holocaust education, died at the age of 94 in London. Kugler had been planning to join this year’s March of the Living at Auschwitz but was ultimately unable to make the trip.
Kugler had been a familiar presence at March of the Living events over the years, including participating in last year’s gathering. Her lifelong commitment to Holocaust remembrance had touched countless lives.
Born in Germany in 1931, Kugler lived through the traumatic events of Kristallnacht at the age of seven. In 1939, her family fled to France in search of safety. Two years later, she managed to reach the United States aboard a ship, where she and her siblings lived in foster care in New York until they were reunited with their parents after the war’s conclusion in 1946.
After completing her studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Kugler pursued a career in photojournalism. Later, she relocated to London, where she became a well-known figure in Holocaust education, tirelessly speaking to audiences and participating in programs that honored the victims of the Nazi atrocities.
{Matzav.com}