On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Centro Sefarad-Israel will offer the testimony of Holocaust survivor Zvi Szlamowicz.

Zvi Szlamowicz was born in Brussels on June 21, 1942 when Belgium was under Nazi occupation and normal Jewish life was becoming increasingly difficult. His family was one of the many who had to wear the Star of David on their clothes when they went out on the street. They were also not allowed to frequent public places or shop at non-special hours.

After the Wannsee conference there were rumors about the deportation of Jews and their subsequent transfer to concentration camps. His parents, frightened by what would await their children, decided to hand him over at the age of five months to the De Meulemeester family, who collaborated with the resistance and with whom the priest of their neighborhood church was in contact.

Although her parents and family hid at home for days so that the Nazis would not discover them, her mother and aunt were arrested and eventually taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, where they were murdered shortly after their arrival in the gas chambers. Meanwhile, his sister took refuge in a convent and his father went into hiding until 1944 when he was sent to prison and later released.

With the end of World War II, daughter and father went in search of Zvi among the ruins of a devastated Europe. The long wait was rewarded and the two of them located Zvi, who was already three years old. After a while they went to live in Bolivia and later in Brazil, from where Zvi himself exchanged letters with the adoptive family that saved him from the Holocaust. And although he moved to live in Israel with his wife and three children, he always went to visit that family that allowed his Jewish origin to remain hidden from the Nazis.

Both the priest and the family that took him in and hid him were named Righteous Among the Nations.

Zvi Szlamowicz will share his first-person testimony at this activity.

This activity is part of Holocaust Remembrance Month, whose activities can be shared on social networks with the hashtag #HolocaustMemorialMonth.

Limited capacity. Prior confirmation of attendance is required.

The event can also be followed on Centro Sefarad-Israel’s YouTube channel, at this link.