The Boy From The Forest: The Heart-Wrenching WW2 True Story of a Holocaust Survivor by Dr. Shay Efrat

Author:Dr. Shay Efrat [Efrat, Dr. Shay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: The Amazing Story of Dasha and Yotam

One of the things I’m most happy about is the fact that my wife Bracha and I have managed to make three separate trips to Ukraine, organized by the Bereźne survivors. The first trip was with Natan and Yotam, my two sons, in 2002. The next time was with Livia and Guy, my daughter and grandson, in 2005. The third time was with Adi and Nitzan, two of my granddaughters, in 2008. They were true heritage trips, and we gained some closure…

I had always wanted to go back to Volyn and Bereźne. I had wanted to visit the graves of my family and all the other Jews, but the Iron Curtain between western Europe and Soviet-controlled eastern Europe meant Israelis couldn’t travel there. Only in the early 1990s, once the Soviet Union was dissolved and Ukraine became a sovereign nation, did it become possible. I have always felt a restless and extraordinary attraction to the green forests. It is truly evergreen, not like what we have in Israel. It’s as if the very soil is pulling me towards it. My roots are in Bereźne. I was forcefully uprooted from it, and I still miss it.

In contrast with other Holocaust survivors who may find it difficult to return to their hometowns and relive the horrifying memories, I had no difficulty going back. I wanted very much to go, and would have gone for a fourth trip if Bracha was healthy. It was important to me that our children and grandchildren joined us on the trip. I hope to travel one day with my great-grandchildren as well… it is very important to me that they preserve the memory of what happened, and memorialize my own murdered family. The greatest danger is forgetting! The worst death is the death of memory. The torch must be passed on to children and grandchildren so that the memories are never lost. This is why my need to pass on the memories trumps all else.

The Association of Wolynian Jews in Israel was in charge of organizing the trips we went on. The members of the association meet once a year at “Beit Volyn” in Givatayim. Beit Volyn is the memorial center of Volyn Jewry. I’ve been there several times, and once they even invited me to read some of my poems. Nowadays, there are very few Bereznean or Volynian Jews still alive, but those who are still hold the annual meetings.

When I got to Bereźne, the first thing I did was to go and look for my house, but I couldn’t find it. The locals rebuilt many of the old houses. In Kurhany, however, I did find the house which had belonged to Soltus, the farmer I had stayed with prior to the killings. I took a photo with his daughter Nadya, who is my age and was still alive. I also gave her some local currency. She still lives in the same house she lived in all those

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