A 96-year-old Holocaust survivor met two female IDF soldiers from the Home Front Command’s Rescue and Evacuation Brigade, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced on Wednesday.
The Holocaust survivor, Sarah Weinstein, was born in Stepan, a town that was once Polish but is now part of Ukraine. Her early childhood was spent in a loving home with six siblings and devoted parents. That life was shattered in 1941 when, at five and a half years old, she and her family were forced into a ghetto.
“We lived there – actually, we survived there – under incredibly harsh conditions,” she said.
Just over a year later, on the eve of the ghetto’s planned liquidation, a guard named Popel took a risk to smuggle the family out. “I don’t know why – everyone knew that helping Jews meant a death sentence,” she said.
Popel smuggled Weinstein and her family in a horse-drawn cart by covering them with straw and then bringing them to his home. “Mother whispered to us, ‘No one speaks out loud. No one looks out the window. No one can know we’re here.'”
He hid them in his home, but villagers soon grew suspicious. They broke into the house, discovered the hiding place, and executed Popel and his family.
“They ordered everyone to lie on the floor. My mother laid on top of me. They shot Popel and his wife, then his son. My brother and I were injured, and my mother was killed,” Weinstein explained the trauma that is still etched in her mind. “Then they set the house on fire.”
“The smell of gunpowder never left me. I remember my father telling us, ‘Each of you, take a leg, an arm, a piece of Mother’s apron, her braid,’ and that’s how we carried her to the forest to bury her. I had a fever and my dress was stuck to my wounds, but all I wanted was my mother.”
The surviving members of the family spent the next three years hiding in the woods, enduring freezing temperatures and hunger. They dug into the earth to find water and relied on help from local partisans who brought clothes and supplies.
“Thanks to them, the Germans didn’t dare enter the forest,” Weinstein said. “They would come from time to time, bringing clothes from fallen soldiers. They fought to save us. That support was extraordinary, and their spirit lives in me.”
War ends and her father never returns
When the war ended, Weinstein’s father went in search of those responsible for his wife’s death. He never returned. “He told us to wait in the village, and a few hours later, we were told he’d been killed. We realized we were alone.”
Eventually, Weinstein was taken to a children’s home in Krakow run by Lena Kuchler. It was there that she removed, for the first time in three years, the same dress she had worn during the Nazi raid.
Moving to Israel
In 1947, she immigrated to Israel and joined Kibbutz Givat HaShlosha. At 16, she drafted to the IDF’s Nahal Brigade, later marrying and raising three daughters. “I’m so happy to be here in this country. I had three wonderful daughters, I have a family, I served in the army, and I’m proud to live here. I learned how beautiful life can be.”
Listening to her story, the two IDF soldiers were visibly moved. Weinstein’s tale, one of survival against all odds, resonated deeply with them.
“You are heroes,” Weinstein told the two soldiers. “I admire every soldier. Despite the pain, I must keep telling my story – so you know why we are here today. You are our true victory.”
Jesus Christ is King
