Israeli traveler stumbles across forgotten Holocaust victims

Israeli traveler stumbles across forgotten Holocaust victims

During his post-army travels in Germany, Yahel Tzaida comes across an old Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorial inscribed with victims' names. At least 20 names of these names had not been recorded in Yad Vashem's database • Yad Vashem hotline allows survivors and others to submit names of those who perished.

Yori Yalon

Recovering the names of the victims: Yahel Tzaida visits the Herzebrock-Clarholz cemetery.  |  Photo credit: Courtesy

During his post-army travels, the last thing Yahel Tzaida expected to find was a previously unknown memorial to Holocaust victims. But that is just what happened when he visited Herzebrock-Clarholz, a small town in Germany.

Tzaida was on an extended world tour after being released from the Israel Defense Forces, and traveled to Germany with friends. Upon arriving in Herzebrock-Clarholz, he met the brother of one of his traveling companions, who happened to be a German historian.

"I was staying with friends in a small town called Herzebrock, near Dusseldorf," Tzaida told Israel Hayom on Wednesday. "One of my friend's brothers is a German historian. Since I am Jewish, he told me about an ancient Jewish cemetery in the region. I felt the need to go there. I found an old, abandoned cemetery.

"I jumped over the fence and saw dozens of Jewish graves from before the Holocaust and a memorial statue in memory of those Jews who had lived in the area and were murdered during the Holocaust." 

The statue had about 50 names of Jewish victims carved into it, as well as their dates of birth.

Tzaida felt a need to commemorate those Jews, and photographed both the memorial and the cemetery.

"I had the feeling that these murdered people were part of me, even though I had never met them," Tzaida said.

When he returned to Israel, he heard on the radio about a campaign that Yad Vashem was conducting to gather the names of those killed in the Holocaust. He called in with the details of the people from the cemetery and his photos.

"We decoded the names on the statue, and it turned out that more than half of them had not been documented in the Hall of Names [at Yad Vashem]," he said.

Since then, Tzaida has felt obligated to find additional names.

"Yahel's experience shows us that collecting victims' names is not just the duty of the survivors or the second generation," said Yad Vashem Director Avner Shalev. "It is something that touches all of us."

Yad Vashem is continuing its campaign, calling on the public to fill out testimonials for Holocaust victims. It will provide volunteers to visit the homes of survivors to help them fill out the pages.

Yad Vashem also has a hotline for commemorating Holocaust victims' names: +972 2 644 3111.

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7469