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You Can Never Kill a People With Hate

April 28, 2014 by

Today, we honor the memories of those we lost and the strength of those we’ve had the fortune to meet. Each candle that was once extinguished prematurely, now shines a brighter light, warming the darkness of our lives.  

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Today is Yom Hashoa, the Holocaust day of memorial. Tonight, we walk the paths of memories that were left for us; memories of our families, our communities, our peoplehood. We remember the love, the loss, the courage and the strength to survive. We scribe the memories into our hearts as a reminder of who we were and who we continue to be. 
Seen on the streets of New York, this woman reminds us that “you can never kill a people with hate.”

“I lived in Poland, so we were persecuted from the first day of the war. First they took us from our home, then they put us in a ghetto, then they made us march, then they sent us to the camps. I was separated from everyone, but my brother later told me that my father froze to death. But I have children now, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren– a great big family, all of them educated. Look at everything that came from just one person who escaped. Just goes to show that you can never kill a people with hate. There will always be someone left to carry on.” – Humans of New York, Sept 6, 2013.

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Righteous Among the Nations Bella Liper: 1917-2012

July 18, 2012 by

ATZUM is saddened to announce the passing of Bella Liper, a Righteous Among the Nations and all-around extraordinary individual who lived in Haifa for over 60 years.

Here is her story:

Bella Liper was born in 1917 in Kiev, Ukraine as Valentina Yakimova.

As the only girl among five children, Bella was pampered by her parents and enjoyed a very happy and comfortable childhood.  In school, Bella met Luvka Liper, a Jew from the area.  Later, they married and finished their education together. In 1941, Bella gave birth to their first daughter, Hanna.

When the Nazis reached Bella’s hometown, all of the Jews were ordered to gather in the ghettos.  Bella decided to smuggle her husband out of the ghetto and hid him in her room. Soon, they realized that this arrangement was unsafe and they looked for a new hiding place.  They decided that Luvka would hide in the storage area below the house, a large space created between the ground and the floor by the house’s wooden support beams.

As time passed, several members of Luvka’s extended family came to Bella for help. Without a second thought, she welcomed each of them warmly and hid them in the hiding place below her house. After three weeks, there were seven people under Bella’s care. Bella kept them all safe and well-fed until 1945, when the Russian soldiers had conquered the area.

After the Russians took over, the Germans were forced to escape.  As they retreated, they burned everything within 300 meters of the railroad tracks to ensure that no one would attack the German trains and they would have a clean getaway.  Because Bella’s house was located next to the railroad, the whole group, including Bella, Luvka, their baby and Luvka’s extended family, was forced to escape and find refuge elsewhere.  After traveling a great distance by foot, the group happened upon a safe house.  They stayed there until 1948, when Bella, Luvka and little Hanna immigrated to Israel.

In Israel, Luvka was immediately drafted to the army.  Bella settled down in a little apartment in Haifa, where she gave birth to her second child, a son.  After Luvka was released from the army, the family bought a new house and lived a peaceful life in Haifa.

A few years ago, Luvka passed away, and Bella moved into an apartment in Kiryat Eliezer.  Though she missed Luvka, she was never alone – her big loving family, including actual family members and her extended ATZUM family, visited her all the time.

On Friday, July 13, Bella passed away at the age of 95.  She was laid to rest by family and friends at the Old Haifa Cemetery. 

May her memory always be a blessing for the Jewish people and a constant reminder of the humanity within us all.

Yael Rosen
Project Coordinator, Righteous Among the Nations

 

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ATZUM Mourns Ivan Vranetic

February 9, 2010 by

Ivan VraneticATZUM is deeply saddened by the death of Ivan Vranetic, 82 year old rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust who later moved to Israel and became chairman of the Organization of Righteous Among the Nations in Israel. His funeral was attended by family, friends, other rescuers and various public figures. ATZUM staff were in attendance and eulogized Ivan who we had worked closely with to bring aid to Righteous Among the Nations in need.

In 1942, Ivan began giving shelter to Jews in his native Croatia. Because his town of Topusko was on the German border, the Nazis frequently conducted raids which forced Ivan to escape to the forest with the Jews he was harboring. In Israel, Ivan took on the position of chairman of the Organization for Righteous Among the Nations and worked tirelessly to bring help and support to other rescuers who had also made their home in the Jewish state.

May his memory be blessed.

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Righteous Among the Nations, Ivan Vrantetic, Meets the Pope in Jerusalem

May 13, 2009 by
Ivan Vranetic meets the Pope

photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

On May 11th, Righteous Among the Nations Ivan Vranetic met Pope Benedict XVI at the Yad Vashem Hall of Remembrance in Jerusalem.

A Catholic born in Yugoslavia, at the age of 17, Ivan saved the lives of over 20 Jews in his home town. In 1963 he moved to Israel and in 1970 was honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance as a Righteous Among the Nations for his part in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Ivan serves as the chairman of the Organization of the Righteous Among the Nations in Israel.

ATZUM is in touch with Ivan on a daily basis, visits him regularly and has catered to a variety of his needs. When speaking to groups about Righteous Among the Nations, ATZUM always shares Ivan’s story as a sample of true heroism and inspiration.

Upon meeting the Pope this week in Jerusalem, Ivan stated that he was deeply moved and honored by the opportunity to meet the pontiff.  He added, “I want the Pope to bring peace to the world. I have always wanted peace all my life. That is why I did what I did.”

Ivan was only a teenager when he put his life on the line to save the lives of escaped Jews who had found their way to his town. Ivan was rarity in a town that largely supported the Nazi-allied militia. Ivan found hiding places for these Jewish escapees as well as securing for them food and other necessary items.

For many years Ivan remained in contact with the holocaust survivors that he rescued. Included in these contacts was a woman that he rescued. He eventually married her in Israel 20 years after the war.

Ivan says that it is hard to understand what it was like during the Holocaust years for someone who didn’t live through that time. He remains greatly disturbed that so much racisim still exists in the world.

When asked what made him risk his life to save others, he cited the upbringing his parents gave him. He was not just driven by a religious obligation to do the right thing, “it was something else”, Ivan explains.

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