Thousands of survivors of the Nazi genocide continue to live in Ukraine, where they suffer the effects of Russian military aggression that shows no sign of ending anytime soon, and fear that they will end their days as they began: amid the sirens and bombardments of the Kremlin returned to Europe, EFE press agency writes on Saturday, quoted by Agerpres.

“My childhood began with the Second World War, and in the last days I have to experience these terrible things again,” Valentina Kavsan, who had to leave the Ukrainian city in 1941, when she was only two years old, told EFE. Dnieper with his family to flee to the east from the fascists and hide in Russia.

Added to this longing, which entered her life when everything seemed to point to her enjoying her old age without the convulsions that marked her existence and her family’s life, was the physical fear of falling victim to the drones or missiles that Russia continues use. to attack Kyiv for many nights.

Just a few weeks ago, the explosion of one of these shells blew out the windows of the building where Valentina was staying. A nearby school was also damaged in the attack.

Suffering and too fragile to move quickly

Often suffering from mobility problems and too weak to move quickly, Ukrainian Holocaust survivors are rarely able to descend into bomb shelters in their buildings or the subway.

Many live in old buildings without elevators, with shelters that were used during the Second World War and have just been renovated, and which awaken in their elderly users all the nightmares that they thought they had left behind with the establishment of peace in Europe on the end of World War II.

“The explosions and sirens make me relive fears and feelings I thought I had left behind,” Dmytro Bobecki, a Polish-born Jew who lost his parents in Nazi concentration camps, grew up in the Soviet Union, and served in the Soviet military. in invading Hungary to suppress the 1956 revolution.

Both Dmytro and Valentina receive aid from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, better known as Joint or Joint.

With the funds that the Claims Conference receives from the country that committed the genocide of European Jews, the Joint provides home care, economic, medical and spiritual assistance to survivors, both in Ukraine and in other countries. world.

About 7,400 people who survived the Holocaust live in Ukraine

According to a study released this week by the Claims Conference, Ukraine is home to approximately 7,400 Holocaust survivors, or 3% of the Jewish victims of Nazism still alive worldwide.

The consequences of the Russian military invasion doubled the needs of the victims, who are without exception vulnerable people due to their advanced age.

“There is constant fear and need,” says Iryna Emets, the Kyiv social service center of Hesed Joint, about the situation caused by the war.

To respond to the new circumstances, volunteers and staff at the Joint are teaching Ukrainian survivors to use digital devices to communicate both in emergency situations and to receive emotional support through video calls when home visits are not possible.

Synagogues, another source of support

Active synagogues in Kyiv are another source of support for victims.

One of them is headed by Jonathan Markowitz, the chief rabbi of the Ukrainian capital. Born in eastern modern-day Ukraine, Markowitz lost many of his ancestors in the Holocaust at the hands of the German Nazis, as well as his Ukrainian neighbors.

Markowitz immigrated to Israel with his family and returned to Kyiv in 2000 after serving 12 years in the Israeli Air Force to rebuild Jewish life in his homeland after the Nazi genocide and Soviet persecution.

Every day, the Markowitz Synagogue provides assistance to approximately 100 Holocaust survivors.

“This war teaches us that only by uniting can we be strong,” Markowitz tells EFE about the importance of community for survivors, as well as the relationship between Ukrainian Jews and the rest of the country’s population.

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