Saving what remains
"Saving what remains" is the title of a new book by Livia Bitton-Jackson, born Livia Friedman in the town of Samorin in Czechoslovakia. Livia is a Holocaust survivor who with her mother survived Auschwitz and later went on to become a Professor of Judaic Studies at NYU. She is now retired in Netanya and described her experiences at the AACI on Sunday.
This book recounts her amazing experiences when she went back to the then Communist state of Czechoslovakia in 1980 to remove the remains of her grandparents from their graves because that area of the Danube was going to be dammed and would be flooded. Her mother, who was then in her 80s living in Israel, asked her if she would do this "mitzva" and bring her grandparent's remains to rest in Israel. She did not want their remains lost as were those of the rest of her family who were murdered by the Nazis.
Livia is an excellent speaker and told in humorous detail how it took 2 years to gather the paperwork to carry out the exhumation of her grandparent's remains. She had to pretend that they were going to be transported to America, since at that time the Communists were antagonistic to Israel. Also, she was wanted in Czechoslovakia as a known illegal Zionist emigre, which meant that she could have been arrested and imprisoned, so she used her married name and was accompanied by her Canadian husband.
She had become illegal when she was involved in the Bricha, the rescue of Jews after the war, when Jews from Poland, Romania and elsewhere were allowed to transit secretly through Czechoslovakia to Austria and thence to Israel, for a price. However, locals were not allowed to take this route, but Livia and her mother, having survived Auschwitz, wanted desperately to get to the West, and so she managed to smuggle themselves out too.
With all her papers and permissions in hand they went to Austria and then entered Czechoslovakia. Luckily for Livia one of her old Jewish friends had attained a high position in the Communist Party, and helped her make the arrangements for the exhumation. First they had to find the Jewish cemetary, that was overgrown like a forest, and then they had to locate the graves, the stones from which had been stolen. They were helped by the fact that her friend's mother was buried next to Livia's grandparents.
On the day of the exhumation they had to have two gravediggers, two members of the Finance Ministry, to ensure that they were not excavating treasure, two members of the Security to ensure that nothing untoward was going on, and two metal workers, who would seal the metal coffins before they were transported. Of course, all of these officials had to be paid for. After cutting away the undergrowth and locating the grave the gravediggers began to dig. When they got to the skeleton of her grandfather and raised his skull, they were suddenly attacked by a swarm of black bees that had apparently been living in it, and they all had to run.
At the entrance they had to be treated for stings and the others wanted to give up (a bad omen), but Livia and her husband insisted now or never. So they trooped back and the bees had dispersed. They moved her grandfather's remains into one of the metal coffins and it was sealed, then they excavated her grandmother's grave, but after a shallow depth they came across a metal container covering the body. It seems that in those days bodies were temporarily buried in baths or other containers and then the baths were overturned into the grave so the body was protected. When they removed the bath her grandmother's skeleton was intact. After the second coffin was sealed they were taken to the train station and shipped to Vienna.
There Livia had another job persuading the authorities not to ship the coffins to America but to Israel. Finally her grandparents are buried in Har Menuhot cemetary in Jerusalem. What an amazing story and an example of true dedication by a survivor of Auschwitz to ensure the continuity of her family line.
(This book and others telling Livia's story can be found on Amazon)
This book recounts her amazing experiences when she went back to the then Communist state of Czechoslovakia in 1980 to remove the remains of her grandparents from their graves because that area of the Danube was going to be dammed and would be flooded. Her mother, who was then in her 80s living in Israel, asked her if she would do this "mitzva" and bring her grandparent's remains to rest in Israel. She did not want their remains lost as were those of the rest of her family who were murdered by the Nazis.
Livia is an excellent speaker and told in humorous detail how it took 2 years to gather the paperwork to carry out the exhumation of her grandparent's remains. She had to pretend that they were going to be transported to America, since at that time the Communists were antagonistic to Israel. Also, she was wanted in Czechoslovakia as a known illegal Zionist emigre, which meant that she could have been arrested and imprisoned, so she used her married name and was accompanied by her Canadian husband.
She had become illegal when she was involved in the Bricha, the rescue of Jews after the war, when Jews from Poland, Romania and elsewhere were allowed to transit secretly through Czechoslovakia to Austria and thence to Israel, for a price. However, locals were not allowed to take this route, but Livia and her mother, having survived Auschwitz, wanted desperately to get to the West, and so she managed to smuggle themselves out too.
With all her papers and permissions in hand they went to Austria and then entered Czechoslovakia. Luckily for Livia one of her old Jewish friends had attained a high position in the Communist Party, and helped her make the arrangements for the exhumation. First they had to find the Jewish cemetary, that was overgrown like a forest, and then they had to locate the graves, the stones from which had been stolen. They were helped by the fact that her friend's mother was buried next to Livia's grandparents.
On the day of the exhumation they had to have two gravediggers, two members of the Finance Ministry, to ensure that they were not excavating treasure, two members of the Security to ensure that nothing untoward was going on, and two metal workers, who would seal the metal coffins before they were transported. Of course, all of these officials had to be paid for. After cutting away the undergrowth and locating the grave the gravediggers began to dig. When they got to the skeleton of her grandfather and raised his skull, they were suddenly attacked by a swarm of black bees that had apparently been living in it, and they all had to run.
At the entrance they had to be treated for stings and the others wanted to give up (a bad omen), but Livia and her husband insisted now or never. So they trooped back and the bees had dispersed. They moved her grandfather's remains into one of the metal coffins and it was sealed, then they excavated her grandmother's grave, but after a shallow depth they came across a metal container covering the body. It seems that in those days bodies were temporarily buried in baths or other containers and then the baths were overturned into the grave so the body was protected. When they removed the bath her grandmother's skeleton was intact. After the second coffin was sealed they were taken to the train station and shipped to Vienna.
There Livia had another job persuading the authorities not to ship the coffins to America but to Israel. Finally her grandparents are buried in Har Menuhot cemetary in Jerusalem. What an amazing story and an example of true dedication by a survivor of Auschwitz to ensure the continuity of her family line.
(This book and others telling Livia's story can be found on Amazon)
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:28 PM
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