Holocaust survivors from the Petach Tikvah branch of Amcha, the largest Israeli nonprofit organization supporting Holocaust survivors, sent a letter expressing their support for families whose loved ones are being held in Gaza. The letter was sent to both the Hostage Families Forum and the Tikvah Forum, an alternative right-wing group representing families of hostages.
The letter reads:
“Dear families, we want to say a few words to you and to try, even a little, to lighten your pain. From our life experience, there are no words that can comfort. We mainly want to strengthen you and to say that we are hurting with you.
“We Holocaust survivors are like a living monument, and the pain is not forgotten, but you learn to live with it and to have a full life with it, one that is good and even happy. We experienced hard things in our lives and managed to get back up, to establish families, to establish the state, and we saw that life is stronger than anything else.”
The Holocaust survivors’ letter also addressed the effort to release the hostages. “We are with you in your struggle for the return of your loved ones who are held hostages and we hope that you will be strong and not lose faith or hope until they are all brought back home,” they wrote. “We can’t stand with you physically in the squares and at the rallies, but our hearts are with you, and we support and strengthen your spirit. It’s very hard to comfort someone whose misfortune is ongoing, and indeed our misfortune is not over, but we are you to try to see the good that will yet come, to look at the future and know that there is something, and someone, to live for.”
The letter is signed, “Better days than these will yet come, sending strength and support.”
