Moments Before His Brutal Murder, the Father Left a Will to His 6-Year-Old Daughter

2012

I am a small child sitting on the lap of my great-grandmother, who was 6 years old during World War II and survived.

The deep pain resided somewhere within the heart, in the depths of her scarred soul.

She recounts to me her story - a 6-year-old girl who survived the Holocaust - sleeping in a pigsty (literally) with a Polish gentile woman who abused her and beat her until she bled for eating pig food scraps after three days of fasting and crushing hunger...

She told about the time a Nazi officer beat her severely for stealing potato peels to feed her dying mother...

But the story that etched in me the deepest was about a dark yet pure evening, somewhere in a Polish ghetto.

"My entire family was led by S.S. officers into the synagogue in the ghetto," Grandmother said, "My father whispered to me: 'Mammele Zisel... escape to save yourself... continue the lineage!'

Grandma fled with Aunt Ziga' Zon, as we used to call her, to the forests, to the partisans.

Looking back, the heart torn apart: the synagogue went up in flames along with the holy who were wrapped in tallitot and holding Torah scrolls...

My family, the Fischer family, holy martyrs of the Holocaust.

HY"D .

Several months after Grandmother shared that unforgettable evening with me, she returned her soul to the Creator.

By her funeral stood a glorious family she had established, accompanying her on her last journey, saying: "Your soul may be scarred but your spirit is whole, pure and clean!"

2024

12 years have passed since Grandmother's passing. I have also grown since then.

As Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches, my heart floats with endless longing for you, my heroic grandmother!

I enter my little divine portion to find the words to describe a woman of valor like you with immense inner strength.

The strongest statement in the world to our deepest and most profound faith: "For it will not be forgotten from the mouths of his children."

My friends, the new and younger generation of the people and state of Israel,

A nation without a past has no future!

We will remember and not forget!

We will pass the torch of faith from generation to generation!

We will continue to be the link in the splendid chain of our people, the people of Israel!

Grandmother Rivka Fischer - Kapitan, may your soul be bound in the bond of life.