Holocaust Survivor Recalls Horrific Moment in Libya: 'I Felt I Was to Blame'

Benny Harel vividly remembers the terrifying moments when the Nazis, may their names be blotted out, entered his birthplace of Tripoli, Libya. He was only five years old at the time. "There was a simple atmosphere in Libya. We lived in homes where you could see the sky all around, family upon family. Life was simple and homes were open. Neighbors would share food, respect one another, Arabs and Jews lived together like brothers. We had no grudges," he recalls.

When the Germans entered Tripoli, they began gathering the Jews and sending them to concentration camps. "Those who were able-bodied were taken to fortifications and labor camps, including the Jadu camp," he recounts in an interview with 'Kan 11'.

During the war, Libya was under Italian control, which was an ally of Nazi Germany and was influenced by its 'racial laws', to the extent that in 1938, Italy decided to apply these racial laws in Libya as well.

2,600 Libyan residents were transferred to the notorious Jadu concentration camp, where 562 Jews lost their lives to starvation, disease, and severe physical and mental torture.

In 1941, Benny, his mother, sister, and brother were in their home when his mother suddenly heard a loud rustling in the sky. "Mother hears a squad of planes approaching. She gathered me and my brother, covered us, and began to pray: 'God, save us'. Suddenly I see the room crumbling and falling, approaching us, and we are buried under the debris. My sister and brother were killed, my mother and I were injured."

In a manner unknown, the remaining Jewish community learned about the survivors beneath the ruins, and they smuggled them away from the prying eyes of the Italians - who sent dozens of wounded to a hospital, from which they did not return."

After recovering, Benny and his mother were smuggled from Tripoli to Az-Zawiya, finding shelter in a Jewish woman’s stable - however, this shelter didn’t last long. "There was a bombing, and the stable caught fire, and my mother was burned," he recounts with tearful eyes and a broken heart, his speech choking intermittently. "They said if someone burns you can cover them, but I didn’t cover her. I constantly had conversations with psychologists saying I was to blame, why didn’t I cover her as she covered me."

"She made sure to cover me, but I couldn’t cover her, couldn’t save her. I never had a childhood. When I see mothers stroking or caring for their children, to this day, I yearn for a mother’s warmth. I long for the warmth I don’t have," he concludes.