The national siren to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day was activated today (Tuesday) by a second-generation Holocaust survivor, Miki Zamir, and his granddaughter, Major Noa Zamir, Head of the Operations Department in the Home Front Command.
Meir’s father, Herman Singer, was born in 1920. When World War II broke out, he moved between several concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where he arrived with his mother, brother, and sister, who were murdered at the camp.
During his time at the camp, he worked in Dr. Mengele’s block. After his time at the camp, he survived the Death March and afterward returned to Yugoslavia. Miriam, Miki’s mother, was born in 1924 in Yugoslavia. Herman and Miriam met before the war and decided to marry after it. Miki was born in 1946, and in 1949 they immigrated to Israel.
In 1962, Miki met Eti, also a second-generation Holocaust survivor. They fell in love, got married, and had two children and six grandchildren who, at every opportunity, commemorate their parents’ Holocaust story.
Miki Zamir and his granddaughter, Major Noa Zamir, Head of the Operations Department in the Home Front Command, arrived this morning at the Home Front Command’s alert center, and together they pressed the button that sounded the memorial siren across the country.
Miki Zamir said: “Thanks to my father, who survived Auschwitz, my granddaughter and I stand here today. My father went through camps, lost his family, and survived the Death March. Out of pain and loss, he chose to return, to build, and to rebuild a life. To see my granddaughter standing beside me today, as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, is the true victory of continuity, of life, of family, and of a people.”
“Our responsibility is to continue to tell, to remember, and to ensure that the past is never forgotten, so that future generations will carry the memory forward. We will remember and not forget.”
Major Noa, Head of the Operations Department in the Home Front Command, added: “My great-grandfather survived the inferno and immigrated to Israel. He took part in building the country, served as an officer in the IDF, and fought in Israel’s wars.”
“To be here today with my grandfather and activate the siren during this period when we are still fighting for the defense of the land fills me with pride and excitement. It is important that we learn and tell the horrors that our Jewish brethren went through in the Holocaust and ensure that our people’s heritage is remembered, learned, and preserved for future generations.”
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