Willy is 84 years old, but he was as thrilled as a teenager when he recently received a motor scooter to move about town. As for his own childhood, it was anything but carefree.

Deported by the Nazis from Hungary to Auschwitz as a young boy, Willy was one of the scores of Jewish youngsters, mostly twins, who fell victim to the sadistic medical experiments conducted by Dr. Joseph Mengele. He underwent horrific research tests whose terrible effects are with him to this day. Willy can hardly sleep. He suffers from throat cancer and in unable speak without a voice device. He has high blood pressure, his legs are giving way, and he has sharp pains in his back.

Two years ago, Willy also lost his beloved wife of 56 years to cancer. They both had survived the Auschwitz death camp and cherished their years together. But since her passing, his loneliness and lack of mobility were becoming too much to bear. Willy enjoys getting out to meet people, but he was stuck at home with anguished memories of lost family and his own cruel suffering.

But thanks to a special donation from ICEJ Finland, Willy now has an electric scooter and is able to venture out to run errands and enjoy the company of others.

Willy is one of the more than three dozen Holocaust survivors now living in northern Israel who have been “adopted” by Christians over recent years through the partnership of ICEJ AID and a local charity named L’Chaim. Through this unique program, Christians have the opportunity to help destitute Holocaust survivors to live out their remaining years in dignity.

The ‘Adoption’ program provides food and financial assistance to Jewish survivors of the Shoah currently living in impoverished conditions in Israel. Just as important, it also sponsors regular in-home visits by student volunteers from a religious school who provide companionship for these elderly Israelis, while also giving the youngsters valuable, life-changing moments with those who experienced the harsh reality of the Nazi genocide.

A team from ICEJ AID recently paid a visit to some of our adopted Holocaust survivors.

Upon meeting Esther, we could sense that behind her lovely, welcoming smile lay indescribable pain. As a child during World War II, she and her father hid out in cemeteries to survive, often literally burying themselves underground to escape danger. Hunger never left them. Esther eventually lost all her family during the war and immigrated alone to Israel in 1957.

Today, she is almost blind, and her years of malnutrition as a child have left her with a myriad of health problems. Thus she faces huge medical bills, but thanks to the adoption program she is able to cover them. ICEJ AID also contributed towards a recently installed air conditioner that Esther was quick to show us. Having suffered two heart attacks, the long, hot summer now will be easier for her to take.

Our arrival at Esther’s home coincided with that of some energetic young men alighting from a mini-van. They had come from a religious high school to “put their Torah studies into practice”, as their rabbi explained it. Twice a month, they pay in-home visits to Holocaust survivors. “They are like my sons”, said Esther, as she happily accepted bags of fresh fruit and vegetables from her two young “companions”.

Esther lost her husband almost 20 years ago, so she had been very lonely until these students started visiting. We left her enjoying the company of the boys.

We continued on to meet Ruth. She also was having an enjoyable visit with two boys from the same academy. She had neatly laid out tea, fruits and a delicious cake that she had baked especially for them. As the young men listened intently to her stories, we noted the warm friendship that had developed between them.
Ruth’s journey was different than Esther’s, but the wounds were just as deep. Born in Germany, she was separated as a child from her mother and sent with her older sister to England as part of the “Kindertransport” program that rescued some 10,000 Jewish youths from Nazi-occupied Europe on the eve of the war. In Britain they stayed in an orphanage where they suffered much abuse. Her mother and younger sister were later sent to the infamous Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania, where their lives ended in one of the many mass executions over open graves.

Ruth was eager to show us a photo album with pictures of her family. “This is my uncle, who was killed in the Holocaust… Here I am with my sister at the orphanage”, she reminisced.

Ruth, now 88, is living in the apartment left to her by her deceased second husband. She depends on a small government pension which is not adequate for her needs, and the compensation she was entitled to from the German government decades ago never made it to her. On top of this, her second husband’s children have tried to evict her from her home, only adding to her distress. No wonder she welcomes a listening ear.

We finish our day at the home of Adela, where the students have been clearing her garden of briars and weeds. They look so happy after their day of hard work. The results will also certainly brighten Adela’s days. Seeing the boys “in action” brought to life the unique side of this project that teaches youth to reach out to these survivors and learn from them… and that brings joy and life to the survivors.

We invite you to join us in touching these precious lives in a profound way that brings Jews and Christians together.

But time is running out! Several of the survivors adopted over recent years have died already, but not before coming to know that Christians cared about them.

This program urgently needs your financial giving. For more information on how you can adopt one of the many Holocaust survivors on our waiting list, please contact us at icejaid(at)icej.org
 

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