Yaroslava Levitska, 91, the only remaining Righteous Among the Nations living in Israel, was honored this week as part of birthday celebrations held ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be marked Tuesday.
On Monday, students from Haifa’s Basmat School visited the nursing home where Levitska lives, together with representatives of the Haifa Municipality and the Rotary Carmel organization. The students congratulated her, sang songs in Hebrew and Russian, and presented her with flowers and cakes.
“I am very happy to see you and deeply appreciate everything you do for me,” Levitska told the students, praising them for holding the ceremony in her honor for the fourth consecutive year. “You moved me with the songs, the music, the dancing and the birthday atmosphere. I am happy that you are happy. I was always happy to help Jews. Most important is that there will finally be peace in the world.”
Levitska was born in 1935 in the town of Zolochiv, then in Poland, and grew up with her mother and grandfather. As early as age 6, she helped save Jews during the Holocaust, acting as a courier for her grandfather and smuggling food and medicine without arousing the suspicion of guards.
“As a child, I went out to bring food to the ghetto and was not afraid of being caught,” she recalled. “I only wanted to give the Jews something to eat, after all the horrors they went through.”
In 1943, Levitska’s family hid two Jews and also supplied large amounts of food to a group of Jews hiding in the basement of a ruined house about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from their home. In 1989, family members were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. In 1995, Levitska received Israeli citizenship and moved to Haifa.
The ceremony marking her birthday was held as part of activities of the Haifa Municipality’s Municipal Institute for Holocaust Studies, which works to commemorate and honor the Righteous Among the Nations and to preserve Holocaust memory. As part of its work, the institute runs a joint program with Basmat School, in which students study the actions of the Righteous Among the Nations, collect information about them and help preserve their legacy.
“The story of Yaroslava Levitska is a moving testimony to the power of humanity even in the darkest moments of history,” Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said in a statement. “The Haifa Municipality is proud to honor the work of the only Righteous Among the Nations remaining in Israel, and I was moved to see Basmat School students carrying forward the torch of memory, respect and the values of compassion and responsibility. This intergenerational encounter is a powerful reminder that Holocaust remembrance is not only about the past, but a moral commitment to a future of peace, tolerance and humanity.”