Help for Holocaust-survivors in Israel

There are not many Jews left who lived through and survived the Holocaust. In 2024, there were still around 133,000 of them in Israel. However, many of these now elderly seniors live in poverty and struggle with rising prices for food, medicine, and rent. In addition, many of them suffer from loneliness because close friends and relatives have already passed away. CBN cares deeply about Holocaust survivors and is therefore happy to look after them. Two of them are Sofi and Natalia.

Sofi was born in Latvia on the day World War II began. Her father had to go to the front, her mother was taken prisoner. “The Nazis brought the children to Germany. The children who could pass as German were placed with families who were supposed to turn them into good Germans. But I had dark hair and had to go to an orphanage. The Nazis conducted experiments on us: they tried to change our eye color.” At the end of the war, the Soviet army liberated the orphanage. Sofi was reunited with her mother, who had been in a concentration camp in Latvia. Years later, they learned that her siblings were now living in Israel. But Sofi and her mother were not allowed to leave the Soviet Union and were only able to join them in Israel in 1972. There, Sofi married and started a family. “I didn’t have a real childhood. When I had children of my own, I was so happy that I could raise them in Israel.”

As Sofi and her husband grew older, he had to move into an assisted living facility, while she struggled with her own health issues at home. She was lonely and the bills were piling up. When CBN learned about Sofi, employees began bringing her food regularly. “You bring food, you visit me and spend time with me. And you never forget to call on my birthday. I feel that you genuinely care for me. I am happy about people like you who think of us. There aren’t many of us left. It’s nice that you care.”

Natalia was also supported by CBN. When Russia’s went to war with Ukraine in 2022 and a bombing raid in her neighborhood claimed many lives, old fears and war traumas resurfaced, because during World War II, as a 13-year-old Jewish girl, she had been forced to flee from the Nazis. She therefore decided to “make Aliyah” – that is, to emigrate to Israel.

But as an elderly woman who came to Israel with nothing, Natalia faced many challenges: at 95 years of age, she was confined to a wheelchair outside her home. She therefore needed an age-appropriate apartment with an elevator. Her budget was also insufficient to furnish the apartment. When CBN Israel got in touch with her, they were able to buy her basic furnishings for the apartment and a special bed thanks to generous donors. In addition, the staff visited Natalia and brought her groceries.

Natalia was deeply touched by the support: “Thank you so much for your help! I was delighted to receive regular food deliveries and other items, and I am so grateful for the furniture. Your kindness means more to me than you can imagine!”

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