On The Eve Of Yom HaShoah, Zikaron BaSalon Hosted At Beit Hanasi (Photo Essay)

By BJLIfe/Sharon Altshul
Posted on 04/16/23

President Yitzhak and Michal Herzog hosted today, Sunday, April 16, the 25th of Nisan, the traditional meeting of Zikaron BaSalon "Memory in the living room". At the event, the survivor Albert Chen (Hayon), a Holocaust survivor from Tunis, shared his personal story, alongside his wife Giselle. The event was attended by Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, and boys and girls from pre-military training schools from all over the country.

At the beginning of the meeting, Harel Sekat, Guy Mezig, Sivan Talmore, and Moshe Klughauft performed the song "My Child" which they created as part of the "Third Soundtrack" musical project. Later, the singers and creators Kobi Oz and Yonatan Raizel performed the song "Suddenly Breathing" and at the end, Kobi Oz performed the song "We Didn't have anything", which he dedicated to his mother who came to the meeting.

The President opened his remarks by saying: "Welcome Giselle and Albert, we are glad you are here, thank you to all those involved in the important project Zikaraon Basalon. Michal and I are very excited, this week is a very important week for the entire people of Israel and for us, we will visit Yad Vashem, the Knesset, and then Warsaw to mark the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. I think there is nothing more symbolic, more exciting, and more expressive of the victory and the 'beacon of revival' than being in the Warsaw ghetto to celebrate it together with the presidents of Germany and Poland."

Regarding the appearance of the song "My Child" the President said: "In my eyes, there is nothing more appropriate that tells the story of the children of Holocaust survivors than this song. On the other hand, the poet writes that nothing changes, and we do everything so that history does not repeat itself." So we are also engaged in the commemoration of Remembrance Day, both in the living memory with a living room memory project and also in drawing our lessons as a nation."

The President's wife added: "This is a very significant week, it amazes me that every year more and more stories are revealed and we will never get to everything, but we try to hear them all. I congratulate you and the artists who took part in this lovely project. In the end our lives are a soundtrack. We remember things through sounds, music, and words. I think that enriching the memory of the younger generation with new songs written by a younger generation of artists, marks continuity and that the memory lives on in all of us. Thank you very much. It was a very exciting opening to the meeting."

During the meeting, Chen gave his testimony, with his wife Giselle sitting next to him: "I am 91 years old today. I immigrated in 1950 from Tunis, where there was a large Jewish community. As a child I took part in a Zionist youth movement, together we aspired to immigrate to Israel. When I was a boy of ten I was playing with my friends in the neighborhood and suddenly we heard a big noise from the sky - planes! Very large German planes flying low, with a swastika on them. My two brothers and my father were drafted into the army and I was left alone with my mother at home. At some point we could no longer sleep at night, we would go to bed with clothes on and shoes, so that we would be ready to run away and find shelter. The lack of knowledge was great, and my mother would cry non-stop, we did not know when our family members would return. Muslim and Italian families would watch over us, and our precious belongings. After the war, we went to the port from which we were to sail to Israel as a family. I was already almost 18 years old. First, we sailed to France, and from there we continued to the port of Haifa. We arrived in Israel under very difficult conditions and I started a family together with Giselle."

Giselle shared about her brother: "I also grew up in Tunisia, I had two brothers older than me, my eldest brother was on a mission in France, after his location was reported to the Germans he was sent to Germany, from where he managed to escape twice by different means. Finally, he managed to reach a French family who helped him, and with her help, she got back to Tunis."

Zikaron BaSalon (זיכרון בסלון), is a social initiative of informal gatherings in private homes for Yom HaShoah established by Adi Altschuler and Nadav Ambon in 2011. On the eve of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, or in the days leading up to it, participants gather in small groups to hear the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and descendants and hold open discussions. Hundreds of thousands of such events are held in private homes throughout Israel. The new initiative is to engage the third generation through music and songs is endorsed by the Neishlos Foundation.