Sderot pupils in Auschwitz: We are proud to be Jews
Among hundreds of Israeli schoolchildren visiting Poland’s concentration camp were 24 students from Sderot. ‘With all due respect to our problems at home, this visit puts things in perspective,’ one student says
Miroslava Borshotska, one of two women recognized during the Krakow ceremony honoring the Righteous Among the Nations, told the students to “send her regards and blessing to their families in hopes for true peace in Israel.”
The students showed their respect and admiration to both Borshotska, and her fellow honoree, with enthusiastic cheers and applause that persisted throughout the ceremony.
The proud Israeli delegation to Poland also included 24 students from Sderot, whose trip to Poland was sponsored by El Al airlines.
El Al’s chief executive officer, Haim Romano, moved by the battered city’s plight and the students’ earnest desire to attend the Poland mission, decided to fund the students’ flight and stay in Poland. The Israeli delegation also had occasion to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp, and will take part in a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising attended by President Shimon Peres.
'Moment of triumph'
Though thousands of miles away from home and the looming threat of Qassam rockets, family and friends were never far from the minds of the Sderot students comprising the Poland delegation. The trip to Auschwitz did, however, leave them far more appreciative of the State of Israel and its existence in spite of omnipresent security concerns. “This puts things in firm perspective. I was proud to be Jew today. Proud to be an Israeli,” one student passionately noted.
Between solemn visits and ceremonies, the students also joined in a two-hour sing-along of Israeli music presided over by musician Danny Katz. The students waved Israeli flags and sang along to familiar Jewish and Israeli Hebrew songs.
“Seeing these youngsters waving flags, singing and hugging one another never fails to move me to tears every single year,” said one of the Poland delegation’s organizers. “It is a true moment of triumph.”
