Holocaust survivor Ruth Haran-Herzman, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri who escaped the October 7 attack, died Saturday night at the age of 90.
Haran, born in Romania, survived WWII and on the morning of the massacre fled from Hamas terrorists who knocked at her door. Her son, Avshalom Haran, was murdered, and seven other family members were kidnapped and later released — including eight‑year‑old great‑grandson Neve and three‑year‑old Yahal.
In January she led the national public‑diplomacy campaign on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, drawing the parallel between Nazi atrocities and the October 7 massacre. In a May 2024 interview with ynet she recounted: “I was born in Bucharest in 1935. Romania became allied to Nazi Germany in 1940. My father, who was a doctor, was expelled and worked at a hospital in Odessa. My mother fled with us from Romania to join my father in Odessa, just before the Axis powers besieged the city. In 1941 we escaped Odessa just before it surrendered. Tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered there.
“I was then a child, barely seven, so I will remember until my last day the Holocaust through the eyes of a little girl, who had to flee from the death that lurked everywhere while the Nazi forces ruled in Europe. I will forever remember the terror, the hunger during our flight, the bombings of the advancing Nazis. Against all odds we stayed together as a family, we travelled the arduous route to Uzbekistan. My father treated many typhoid cases among fleeing refugees, but ultimately the disease ended his life as well.”
Haran immigrated illegally to Israel in 1947 with her mother and brother. Many decades later, on October 7, 2023, she again faced devastation.
“I was alone at home in Be’eri on the Shabbat of Simchat Torah,” she recounted. “I woke up to rocket barrages, immediately tried to reach Avshalom and failed. No response from my daughter‑in‑law or grandchildren. Through the window I noticed armed men on the front lawn and then there was a heavy knock at the door. I saw them with the green headband, they were very frightening, yet I don’t know how, I was not afraid. I stood for a moment, and suddenly they were called away. I turned and fled swiftly inside the house. I stayed in my hiding place trembling with fear for 15 very long hours. Only at night did our soldiers rescue me and take me to a safe place. I saw bodies around. It was horrific. I was again a witness to death, burnt homes, the murder of innocents. For me this flooded back painful memories of the Holocaust. When babies are murdered in their beds, when they harm women or rape them, kill them cruelly, satanically, innocents — that is a Holocaust.”
Days later, she received the devastating news that her son Avshalom, aged 66, had been murdered.