Thread by @shmeze

I’m a 43 year old Jewish female. Born in Israel to parents who fled Riga almost 50 years ago. I come from a fairly small family. My dad died when I was a teenager & my grandparents died when I was young as well. When I was growing up my family never spoke about the Holocaust.

Since my dad, my grandparents & my aunt died when I was young, we never had a real discussion about the Holocaust, so I assumed they were left fairly unharmed during WWII. I was wrong. This morning my sister told me she’s been researching our family through Yad Vashem.

Turns out my father, grandparents, aunt and other relatives are listed as Holocaust survivors. We also learned we weren’t from a small family. It was small after the Holocaust. I learned this morning that my great grandfather was murdered in the Holocaust.

Up until this morning I didn’t even know his name. The crazy thing is my older sister is named after him. And none of us ever knew that. I always knew Yad Vashem was vital, but for the first time in my life it gave me a family history I never knew I had. I am eternally grateful

I can’t explain how it feels to be an adult with children who now inherited a family history I never knew I had. This is now a history that I will pass on to my children, and make sure they pass it on to their children. Please consider donating to @yadvashem

@yadvashem is one of the most important tools to help keep the memories & the history of the victims of the Holocaust alive. But it also provides someone like me a legacy to pass on to my children

For my Canadian Friends please find the link to their website to donate

yadvashem.ca

For my American friends here is their American website

yadvashemusa.org

For my British friends here is their UK site

yadvashem.org.uk

Thank you to everyone who has shared my story. I want you to know that My belief inZionism & the need for Israel 🇮🇱 has never been stronger than it is today, and I have always been a strong Zionist. But going forward I will make sure it is part of my everyday.

#AmIsraelChai

Here is Yad Vashem’s international page yadvashem.org/friends/desks/…

#YadVashem
#NeverAgain
#NeverForget
#YomHashoah

So I spoke with my older sister last night, and it turned out my father did tell her when she was little that she was named after his grandfather who died when he was little. But it was only yesterday that she found out he was killed during the Holocaust

There is also an organization I would like to share with you which helps Holocaust survivors who are now in their 80s & 90s. Please consider donating to this cause

survivormitzvah.org