Yehudit Brener
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Shoah survivor to IDF chief: We have to believe in peace
Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi meets 90-year-old Auschwitz survivor Yehudit Brener; tells her military 'makes sure that every soldier understands State of Israel is the answer to the Holocaust'
"Without you it would have been impossible to establish the State of Israel," IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi told 90-year-old Yehudit Brener from Jerusalem.
Brener, an Auschwitz survivor, was visited by Ashkenazi as part of the military's Holocaust remembrance project "Flowers for Survivors," which sees IDF soldiers visit with survivors.
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Once at the death camp, Omer told the chief of staff, "Grandmother was separated from her mother. She never saw her again."
Brener shared one of her chilling memories with Israel's first soldier: "One day, we sunk behind the crematoriums to eat a piece of bread someone gave us. I kept thinking 'how can you eat with so much death around you? But we were so hungry we ate every morsel. It's sad to see what the hunger made of us."
Ashkenazi with Brener (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
After several months Brener was transferred to a forced labor camp in Germany. One day, their Nazi guards told them to pack their belongings and start walking. After several days of marching they reached a battle zone, where they encountered the American soldiers liberating the area.
"They gave us food and shelter," she recalled. "They told us – don't be sad, you're starting your new life now." Brener married shortly after the war and she and her new husband then came to Israel.
"We, in the army make sure every soldier learns about what happened in the Holocaust," a clearly moved Ashkenazi said. "It's part of their education and we make sure to explain to them that the State of Israel is the answer to the Holocaust, that it is important that the Jews have a state so this could never happen again; and that this country has to have an army to protect it."
Berner also said that she "never dreamed she would meet the IDF chief of staff. I hope we find some peace," she concluded. "We have to believe in peace."
