In just over one hour from now, at 10:00 a.m. – a two minute siren will sound all over Israel and the country will come to a stop. I’ve been on buses, in cars, in supermarkets, on the street and at home. No matter where you are – it is emotional, it is hard.
The wailing air raid siren pushes deep into your heart. You can feel the wait of six million, the agony, the screams.
Every year, it is as the first year. I try in those two minutes to say the names of those we have lost – those who suffered a life time after the Germans came to their towns and villages. Those who have no name, or not even a full name. There was Raizel – my grandfather’s mother…and her two daughters.
There were my husband’s grandfathers…and his grandmothers. His uncles and aunts…all gone, so many lost.
We can count to six million and beyond and still we may never know all the names, all the agonizing ways the Germans found to humiliate, de-humanize, and finally murder us. There are the tattoos, that never faded on the arms of the survivors but are fading away as they are buried with each survivor we lose yearly. My husband’s aunt…this past year…his uncle, the year before. His parents, more than a decade ago, and another uncle.
We cannot, we will not, let the memory of what was done fade with them. On every street in Israel, every highway – we remember and we promise that Israel will always stand as we will…in just about an hour from now.
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