In their grandparents' footsteps - Haaretz

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Thu., October 25, 2007 ,

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In their grandparents' footsteps

By Yair Sheleg

This past Tuesday, in a small hall at Beit Hasofer in Tel Aviv, former residents of the Polish town of Piotrkow gathered for the annual memorial service to the town's Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. The 11th day of the Hebrew month of Heshvan was chosen as their remembrance day, because on that day 65 years ago, the last of four trainloads of Piotrkow's Jews was sent to the Treblinka extermination camp.

Up until a few years ago, only a few Holocaust survivors came to these services, and the small hall easily accommodated them. This week, however, there were over 200 people (including the two sons of the town's rabbi - former Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Meir Lau, and his brother, Naftali Lavi), and almost everyone complained about the crowding and the heat. Most of the participants were not Holocaust survivors themselves, but were born in Israel after the Holocaust - second- and third-generation survivors, and even some babies from the fourth generation.

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"Every year more people come to this event," was the comment heard everywhere.

A thin, bearded young man wearing a large crocheted skullcap stood out among the crowd as he made sure that every detail of the ceremony was in order: from the annual newsletter published in honor of the event, to the projectionist making last-minute preparations for the screening of the film made last summer, when the town's former Jewish residents and their descendents traveled to Piotrkow for the dedication of a memorial to three revered rabbis from the town. The young man is Netanel Yechiel, the 34-year-old grandson of Avraham Yechiel, one of the oldest survivors. Netanel is not here only to help his grandfather, however. A few years ago, he joined the former Piotrkow community's landsmanshaftn (organization formed after the Holocaust to perpetuate the memories of destroyed communities), and is now essentially the driving force behind it.

He is not alone in this type of organization. Anyone who thought that the landsmanshaftn would disappear with their founding members is mistaken. More and more young native Israelis, many of them third generationers, are joining these organizations to continue their grandparents' legacy and the memory of their lost communities.

Close relationship to survivors

Yechiel relates that his interest in this subject actually began ideologically. Like many of his generation of religious Zionists, he recently became interested in Hasidism, and in its wake, in the whole Eastern European world that was destroyed.

"Hasidism connected me to that world," says Yechiel. "Following my interest in Hasidism I began to sit with my grandfather and record him. Today I understand that the Jewish story is much broader that the Zionist story we were told. Not that I've become post-Zionist, but I understand that Zionism is not the whole story, unlike my father, for whom it is the whole story. I, for example, will not go to Treblinka with an Israeli flag, even though I definitely consider myself a Zionist."

Following the initial interest comes involvement in organizations, "after the older generation grew even older and asked for volunteers to replace them. The survivors usually expected the second generation to take over for them, but instead I decided to volunteer."

Yechiel's ideological explanation is quite unusual. Most other young activists in landsmanshaftn volunteered for much more prosaic reasons, such as a deep, personal relationship with a grandparent. One such grandchild is Nevo Dartava, 22, who was also actively involved in the Piotrkow memorial event.

"I found myself drawn to these [Holocaust] stories," says Dartava. "This is the fifth year I have come to the ceremony. It is important for me to try to understand what actually happened there. I know my grandfather's stories, but it is important for me to spend time with his friends, too, and hear their stories."

Yafit Marom, who only two weeks ago found out about the landsmanshaftn, relates that this subject interested her because of her close relationship with her grandmother.

"For as long as I can remember, she has been telling me her story. At first, she would tell me whatever she wanted, but later I began discussing things with her in an orderly fashion, to document them. About two weeks ago, I googled Piotrkow and suddenly discovered there was this organization. I phoned the number listed on the Web page, and found out that the annual memorial service was coming up. Of course I came, and I hope to continue being an active member."

Marom had dozens of questions she wanted to ask the other survivors at the ceremony "to add details to my grandmother's stories and get a more vibrant picture of Piotrkow."

A growing number of third generationers are also taking over the reins in the landsmanshaftn of Wielun, another Polish town. The life force of that organization is Inbal Stavitsky, 28, who differs from the others in many ways. She is a fourth generationer, and her great-grandfather, Ben Wielun, was not even in Europe during the Holocaust. He came to Israel a few years before the war, but almost his entire family was wiped out, and his stories were an inseparable part of Stavitsky's childhood.

"In the Wielun landsmanshaftn," Savitsky says, "it was common practice to bring the children and grandchildren to all the activities. There is an annual Hanukkah party, and memorial services on Holocaust Remembrance Day. I have been coming to these activities since I was 10 years old. Thus, a few years ago, when the founders of the organization asked for young people to help them, I had just completed my army service and it seemed natural for me to volunteer."

Stavitsky's cousin, Ma'ayan Lior, is also active in the landsmanshaftn, for a similar reason.

"From the age of 6 or 7, I have been participating in their events, and over the years it was natural for me to become active myself. Now my 1-year-old son also comes to these events." All the landsmanshaftn report a clear difference between the youngsters' interest in this subject, and the attitude of their parents, who were a lot less active, if not totally uninvolved.

"My father was among the first [Israelis] to visit Poland, back in 1985," says Yechiel. "But he was not involved in memorial activities. His connection to the world that was destroyed is far more cultural. He loves grandfather's Modzitz Hasidic tunes, but from an ideological point of view, his identity is purely Zionist.

"My feelings of connectedness are much more existential. I really feel a connection between the world that was destroyed and my world today. I also think that on a psychological level, it is easier for the grandchildren to speak to their grandparents than for the children, and there is good reason for the greater openness today."

Yechiel's father, Yishayahu, actually denies any difference between himself with respect to his feelings toward the past.

"I was the first in my family to visit Piotrkow," he says, "and when the landsmanshaftn asked for volunteers to replace the oldsters a few years ago, it was natural and clear to me that I volunteer. Of course I am happy that Netanel has volunteered, too. He is replacing not only my father, but also me."

Stavitsky, like Netanel Yechiel, relates that "grandparents and grandchildren often come together for landsmanshaftn outings, without the middle generation. This is also because they are busy people who have many obligations, but it seems to me that it also has to do with the difficult of the grandparents' generation in talking with their children about what happened. It was a generation that did not want to listen, that blamed the parents for going like sheep to the slaughter, and only now has a tendency to more openness begun. There are even situations in which third generationers convince their parents to join the activities. In my family, both my mother and Ma'ayan's father are very aloof about this subject, although they certainly appreciate our involvement. My mother at least tries to help me. Ma'ayan's father doesn't even do that, but he is very supportive."

Polish entertainment

Are the activities of the third generationers different from those of their grandparents? First, there are practical differences. When the first generation compiled the annual newsletter for the Piotrkow landsmanshaftn (which celebrated its 45th issue this week), it was full of articles in Yiddish and Polish. Now it is completely in Hebrew.

The first generation also perpetuated the community's memory with books. Now there are Web sites, like the one that has already been launched by the Wielun landsmanshaftn, or the one that Dartava hopes to build for the descendants of Piotrkow. Lior speaks about the excitement of the young people over the multi-generational character of the activities.

"The grandparents really wanted us to feel like partners with them, but in practice it was an event that focused on their personal stories and their world. The grandchildren were invited to one of the Hanukkah parties, but the entertainment was a comedian who spoke Polish. When we organize activities today, we try to adapt them to our generation, too. There are therefore more outings around the country, although we know that the first criterion for the nature walks is that the grandparents be able to manage the trail, too."

To what extent does this type of activity reflect what is happening in all the landsmanshaftn? Miki Cantor, a second generationer, is the treasurer of the Vilna landsmanshaftn and an active member of the Generation to Generation association, which coordinates general memorial and commemorative activities for second and third generationers.

"There is a lot of interest," says Cantor, "but I feel the real work has only just begun in the past few years. There are also surprises: In my family, for example, we always knew that my eldest daughter was interested, but that she was the only one. Just recently, our second daughter suddenly announced she had enrolled in a course to learn Yiddish. This is apparently her way of showing that she is interested, too."

Cantor also believes that the main factor behind a third generationer's decision to get involved has to do with the general atmosphere in the family concerning remembering the Holocaust.

"The more the subject is discussed in the family," says Cantor. "The more the grandfather and grandmother talk about what happened, and do not suppress it, the greater the chances that the third generation will be interested.

We have to remember that there are also landsmanshaftn in which the seniors themselves still have difficulty involving their children, all the more so their grandchildren. The grandparents feel it is their own personal, painful story, and it is hard for them to share it, even with their family."

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