The 17-Year-Old Documenting Holocaust Survivors' Stories: "There Isn't Much Time, In the Future They Won't Be Here"

How does a high school senior manage to gather hundreds of teenagers to visit elderly Holocaust survivors and help them preserve their life stories? When asked, Shira Israeli smiles, struggling to explain the amazing phenomenon of her project 'Platform for Memory'.

"I've always loved initiating, volunteering, and helping," she eventually explains, but this too doesn't fully account for the growing phenomenon that high school students from Haifa to Be'er Sheva are now part of.

It all started when Shira was tasked with an English assignment to create a short 'family roots film' about her parents' family during the Holocaust. "I realized I had a problem," she says, "because my father's family doesn't talk about the Holocaust at all. Even though my grandparents survived, they don't share their experiences. On the other side, most of my mother's family passed away in the 80s, many lived in Australia, so my mom only met her grandparents maybe five times in her life. After my grandmother passed, my mom flew to Australia and returned with letters and photos, but I really have no idea what happened to them."

Providing a Platform for Memory

Shira had no other choice and decided to research for her assignment, trying to find details about her family during the Holocaust with the help of official organizations. "I reached the largest archives in the world to uncover as much information as possible. I discovered a lot, but unfortunately, there are many details I'll never know, as I have no one to ask."

Then she conceived the idea of creating a unique project that would connect teenagers to Holocaust survivors, allowing them to hear their life stories. "My goals for the project are twofold," she emphasizes, "I want teenagers to learn more about the survivors' stories, and simultaneously, for the Holocaust survivors to have someone to share with and listen to their memories."

Shira notes that the project's foundation partly relies on harsh statistics showing the dwindling hourglass. "Currently, there are about 147,000 Holocaust survivors, but every day an average of 42 survivors pass away, between 15,000 to 16,000 every year, and in the next two decades, the last Holocaust survivor in Israel will likely pass. Moreover, 30% of survivors live in isolation, and from a survey I conducted among teenagers, I realized 50% feel detached from the Holocaust topic. It's not that they don’t know it; sometimes they're involved around Holocaust Remembrance Day, but beyond that, it's just another history subject unrelated to them. I aimed to change that exact perception.

"My ambition isn't particularly ambitious," Shira adds, "I just want teenagers, when standing in silence, to remember at least one personal story that connects them, that they can relate through. That's why I started 'Platform for Memory', and it's the reason I'm pushing it forward for the past two years."

How does the project actually work?

"Teenagers from grades 9-12 join the project, and we connect two or three of them to a Holocaust survivor, with whom they collaborate for half a year, participating in various activities suited to them and the survivor. Some play games or listen to music together, cook together, or even organize a dance with the elderly survivor they met. During these activities, each group chooses how to document the elderly's personal story, and at the year-end, we hold a 'Highlight Evening' where we present the groups' documented stories."

(Photo: shutterstock)

Tears in Their Eyes

About the upcoming Highlight Evening, Shira mentions that it will collaborate with the Foundation for the Welfare of Holocaust Victims and the Tel Aviv Museum, as projects prepared by the teenagers and elderly will be displayed as a temporary exhibition at the museum. "It's going to be a significant and particularly moving event for us and the survivors," she notes, "and by the way, we make sure the highlight day doesn't coincide with any Holocaust-related date, as our goal is to show we remember the Holocaust year-round, not just on symbolic dates."

Organizing such a project must require a lot of work. How do you manage it?

"That's true," Shira responds, "The work is endless, especially as next year the project will accompany 15 branches from Haifa to Be'er Sheva. Luckily, we have a large cooperative team, and we're looking for more volunteers to help."

"As a high school student, I have plenty of tasks," she honestly admits, "but I just got drawn into it, and each time I'm exposed to the reactions of the elderly and survivors, I gain strength. Particularly touching were my grandparents' reactions, who attended the last highlight evening. Even though, as I mentioned, they have firmly refused over the years to share their experiences, I saw them with tears in their eyes, and felt despite their personal struggles, they support and encourage me."