Will we be left alone again?
In the times of the coronavirus, Holocaust survivors are exposed to many kinds of danger and are particularly at risk. Join the campaign of #NOTALONEAGAIN and encourage Holocaust survivors!
For Eva, a Holocaust survivor in New York, the coronavirus is especially serious. Not only because due to her advanced age she belongs to the risk group, but also because the curfew and social isolation intensifies her trauma. Not being allowed to leave the house, helplessly waiting to see what happens, being separated from family and friends – these are conditions that remind her of her childhood in the ghettos.
“Even if there is no reliable information about the psychological effects of the socially restrictive corona measures at this point in time, we know from similar situations that one’s own fears and social states of emergency can be powerful triggers for multiple extreme traumas and memories of persecution,” writes Lukas Welz, chairman of AMCHA Germany, in the newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine. The organization offers psychosocial support for survivors of the Shoah and their families, which had to be suspended to a great extent.
Yet it is precisely these social contacts – the therapist who comes by once a week, the nurse with whom you have a chat every day, the grandchildren who visit you at the weekend – all of this creates a secure routine and maintains the survivors’ will to live. Arie from Israel told us during a phone call that he is doing very well, but that many of his friends who arrived with him on the “Exodus 1947” from Europe to Israel suffered from the isolation and the feeling of being imprisoned. He calls them every day to “keep them cheerful and encourage them”.
This is exactly what we want to do as the March of Life. In these challenging times, we want to show Holocaust survivors that they are not alone and that people from many nations are thinking of them, praying for them and love them. Join us!
Click on the relevant sign to download.
Three Steps:
1. Call the Holocaust survivors and their families whom you know personally and encourage them!
2. Join our campaign #NOTALONEAGAIN!
3. Support organizations that work with Holocaust survivors!
This is how the #NOTALONEAGAIN campaign works
- Download and print the poster with simple words of encouragement
- Take a picture with the poster (by yourself or with your family)
- Post it in the social media using the hashtags #notaloneagain #shoasurvivors @marchoflife
- Send the picture also directly to Holocaust survivors and their families in your area
- Send your picture to info@marchoflife.org and we will forward it to the many Holocaust survivors and organizations with whom we are in contact
- Children are welcome to take part in the campaign and paint or sing something – nothing pleases Holocaust survivors more than that
- Encourage your friends to join the campaign