Irene Shashar addresses MEPs on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day during a solemn ceremony in the Hemicycle. Irene Shashar, born on 12 December 1937 as Ruth Lewkowicz, survived the Warsaw ghetto. After her father was killed by the Nazis she escaped the ghetto with her mother through the sewers to another part of Warsaw where she was a “hidden child” for the rest of war. She and her mother then moved to Paris. After her mother’s death, she moved to Peru where she was adopted by relatives. After studying in the US, she moved to Israel at the age 25 and became the youngest faculty member to hold a post at the Hebrew University. Today she lives in Modiin, Israel.

Brussels

plenary session

ceremony

keynote speech

Holocaust remembrance (T)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: keynote speech by Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Honourable President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. Honourable Members of the European Parliament, Honourable Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives, Honourable Vice-Presidents and Members of the European Commission and Honourable President of the European Economic and Social Committee. Honourable Religious Representatives, Ladies and gentlemen.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor At this International Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony, I stand here today in front of you to tell you that Hitler did not win. The year is 1942. I am five years old. My mother, father and I are living in the Warsaw Ghetto, we are starving. In my innocence I hoped that it was all temporary. I wanted to believe that someone would say "Sbracadabra" and I would be back in my own rightful home, comfortable and secure, surrounded by my family's love. eyes of a stranger But that was only a child's dream.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Moving to the ghetto was only the beginning of our nightmare. The scenes of genocide had already been planted in 1939, with the poison of Nazism invading Poland. When we were forcibly moved into the ghetto, survival was the only thing that mattered. The conditions in the ghetto were awful. I was cold. I was barefoot. I was hungry. I was afraid to look into the eyes of a stranger.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor My mother and I often went to scavenge for food while my father would stay in our tiny apartment. On one of these outings, as my mother was holding me tight, I noticed a dirty, raw potato that have fallen off a fruit cart. I picked it up. I gave it to my mother. She cleaned it with her skirt. She broke it in half for me to eat. I ate it with delight. I still remember its taste. It was delicious. The second half of the potato, I expected my mother to eat it herself. Since she was just as hungry as I was. But she waited. She waited until I finished savouring the first half and gave me the second half. I'm telling you this to show you that mother's love is unconditional.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor On another afternoon, while my mother and I were again searching the streets for spare bits of food, we heard bloodcurdling screams coming in the direction of our cramped apartment. My mother yanked my little arm and took off, running in the direction of the screams. She dashed up the stairs of our building, fighting her way through a crowd of people. And once we were there on the landing, the crowd was even thicker.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor But through the open door, we could see a body, a body sprawled on the kitchen floor. It was my father. In his scrappy dress shirt and his suspenders. Lying there, bleeding from a gash on the side of his throat. Mother dragged me with her. She threw herself and me on top of his limp body and screamed, sobbing inconsolably. I was scared. She kept an iron grip on me as we huddled together as a family for one last time.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor My elbow had nowhere to go except into a pool of my father's blood. We stayed there for what felt like an eternity. Finally, somebody pulled me away and took me out of the room. I remember then feeling relieved, but that would be the last time I ever saw my father. Shortly after that horrific day, Mother and I set out to find some food. Only on this stage, something felt different.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor She was carrying a large black bag, and she let me take my doll. My beloved little girl. She seemed to be going somewhere with a purpose. With the urgency, with the plan. Suddenly she pulled open a sewer cover and tossed me down. The sewer? It was dark. It was dirty. It was wet. It was awful. And all I could see. All I could feel was this stream of smelly water splashing against me.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor I clutched my beloved Laleczka and waited for my mother to join me. My eyes slowly but surely adjusted to the darkness. And I saw the grimy tunnel all around me. And the rats. The rats, there were lots, lots, lots of rats. They were jumping. They were jumping on my head and on my face. They were in my hair and they were jumping on my Laleczka. My mother pushed me from behind to move us through the foul gutter.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Not only was it soggy, but there was a tremendous stench. We were crossing the sewer for the entire ghetto area of Warsaw. 80 years later, I can remember the stench like it was yesterday. I clutched my travel companion, my beloved Laleczka, close to my chest. I told her to be strong, but neither she nor I were immune to the horrific conditions in the sewer.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor She was more than my precious doll. She was my best friend. And even she was not safe in this hell on earth. Then, as quickly as forcefully as it had begun, the pushing from behind suddenly stopped. My mother scrambled upward. Somehow she found it great. She hoisted me up and then came out of the sewer herself.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor To this day, I still wonder how did she know how far we had to go in order to emerge outside of the ghetto walls? We were now on the Aryan side of Warsaw, where Jews were absolutely forbidden to be. My mother, a pretty woman, was blonde and blue eyed and could pass the same non-Jew. She had friends from earlier years who were willing to employ her in their homes, even though this was dangerous for them.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Now, in those situations, she could provide food for herself and for me. However, taking me alone requires that I be hidden in closets. From that moment on, I became what is known a Holocaust hidden child. And my mother came by every once in a while with food and a kiss, and to tell me how much she loved me.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor I spent hours and hours in dark closets talking to my little girl. We comforted each other. We hugged each other. She was my hiding place companion. I asked her over and over again, what did I do wrong? Why am I being punished? I felt guilty. I felt guilty of something. But of what? I did not know. My mother told me that if I behaved, if I would not call her, if I would not complain, if I would not make any noise. All this would be it would soon be over. And there we could go out to the park to play again.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Ladies and gentlemen, consider for a moment what my mother was telling me was that the end of the war depended on my being good. Could I really be responsible for ending the war? After several years of hiding and running, running to new places to stay one step ahead of the Gestapo, the war was finally over.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor I must have been very, very, very good. We search for surviving relatives, and eventually we made our way to Paris. My mother found a job in a hotel, but there was no place for me there. So, she sent me to an orphanage, established by the central children commission, created for the resistance. All the children there were French orphans whose parents had been deported to death camps. I was the only Polish child, and I was also the only child with the mother. So, she became everybody's mother. At the orphanage, I learned for the first time to read and write, and I was then nine years old. Thank you, France, for having provided me with a refuge at a crucial time in my life.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor There were so many questions I wanted to ask my mother, who was my saviour, and who gave me life over and over again. She died in the spring of 1948 before I was able to ask, and I then became a full orphan. Prior though, till her sudden heart attack, she had one last plan. She made arrangements for her for me to live with her favourite niece whose family had found a new life in Lima, Peru. Fela Topilsky and her husband Michal had the generosity to take me in, gave me love and allowed me to start a new life in the safety of their home.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Together with their children, Marcel and Sonia, I am forever thankful and grateful for their love and generosity. They helped me make the person I am today. And I tried to show that I deserve their caring by being, of course, the best student I could be. Later, I earned a scholarship to university in the United States. Peru provided me with an environment in which I could evolve from a hidden refugee child to an adolescent with hopes and dreams for the future. Thank you, Peru.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor My mother's foresight, even after she was no longer with me, is a beacon of light that has stayed with me throughout my life. I went to New York to study and eventually from there made aliyah to Israel. Israel became my country. I had the privilege to contribute to the education of generations of students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during the 40 years I taught there applied linguistics. I was blessed with the opportunity to have children and grandchildren, and I did the very thing Hitler tried so hard to prevent. But Hitler did not win.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Allow me to present to you my victory. My son David, and my daughter Ilana. Would the two of you please stand up? My son David is a doctor. In 2006, he was seriously injured while serving in the IDF when he joined a paratrooper unit that was attacked. He overcame his injuries and founded an emerging biotech company that is in the process of developing an innovative device to reduce newborn mortality by delaying or preventing premature births.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor His wife Rotem is an intensive care nurse who treats seriously injured patients of all races and religions. She has been working non-stop since October 7th. They have three children, 13 year old Nevo, gifted in mathematics, who just celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Wailing Wall. Ten year old Omer, who is an autistic gymnast and aspires to be an Olympic Olympic medallist. And Doron, the seven year old who regularly charms all of us.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor My daughter Ilana is a senior social worker and trauma specialist in the municipality of Shoham. Since the unprovoked attack on Israel on October 7th, she has been on the frontline of the war at home, leading support groups to help the community deal with the trauma of the war, helping families of hostages who have been released back home and helping those that are still waiting for their loved ones to come back.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Ilana husband, Assaf, is an expert on law and psychiatry. He immediately volunteered to join his reserve unit on October 7th. They share four children, Yarden age 20, is doing his military service, as are almost all 20 year olds in Israel. He's a soldier in an elite unit, and we pray every day. We pray for his safe return home. Yahel, 15, was one of several thousand students who was accepted into an elite boarding school in Haifa, and she's interested in math and biology and hopes to become a doctor.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Shirah, 13, loves skating and participates in national competitions. And the last one, Ivri, 11 is a good student, has a wonderful sense of humour and is a competitive swimmer. My grandchildren have their whole future in front of them and it breaks my heart to see them growing up in war. I hoped, and I believe, I did believe, that I had paid the price. And yet my grandchildren must fight to defend their right to life in a Jewish state.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Unfortunately, as I stand here before you, I have left my country in the wake of violence, murder, rape and terror. After more than 100 days, there are still 136 kidnapped hostages, dead or alive in the hands of the terrorists. Friends, I ask for your solidarity and your support to see those hostages reunited with their families. The entire country yearns to have them back alive. Help bring them back alive.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor Sadly, after October seven, the resurgence of anti-Semitism means that the hate of the past is still with us. Jews are again not feeling safe living in Europe after the Holocaust. This should be unacceptable. Never again should truly mean never again. I am now 86 years old. When I was born, Europe was still a collection of states with major grievances against each other. Europe was able in the meantime, to set aside old hatred and come together. I trutly believe that the values that inspired the European Union respect of diversity, respect for freedom of religion, and the ability to live together in peace have an important role to play in the future of the Middle East.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor I have a dream. In my dream, my children, all children live in a peaceful Middle East, one that is free of hate, especially towards us, the Jews. In my dream, the Jews finds safety and security anywhere, anywhere they choose to go home, and anti-Semitism is finally a thing of the past. I warned against Hitler. I am finally home. But my grandchildren must now fight for its survival.

SOUNDBITE (English), Irene Shashar, Warsaw Ghetto survivor I call upon you, the Parliament of Europe, to help my dream come true. Together. Only together with you, we can end anti-Semitism and achieve a lasting peace. Thank you.