Project Spotlight: Helping Holocaust Survivors in Need

The Fellowship  |  December 10, 2019

Today, thousands of elderly Jews who miraculously escaped death during the Holocaust are living out their final years in poverty and isolation. Many Holocaust survivors are in need of support and live solely on meager pensions – having to make the impossible choice every day between buying food and other essentials like lifesaving medicines, shelter, and heat in the winter months.

Thanks to friends like you, The Fellowship has programs that meet the basic food, heating fuel, clothing, shelter, and medical needs of the elderly and aging Holocaust survivors around the world.

As the psalmist prayed, “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone” (Psalm 71:9). The Fellowship takes these words of the Bible to heart in caring for frail Holocaust survivors who are in dire need.

Fredirika’s Story

Fredirika was born 93 years ago in a small Hungarian village that was later claimed by Romania after World War II. Her youth was shattered by the war.

Her parents and five siblings were forced onto a livestock train headed for Auschwitz, and then her parents and youngest brother were sent to the gas chambers after they got off the train. Fredirika and her other siblings were forced to work as slave laborers until being liberated by the British army. At this point, sick from typhoid, she finally received medical treatment. But Fredirika has been grieving ever since. She only has one photo of her father and younger brother, and keeps the picture close to her heart.

After the war, Fredirika married a soldier who survived the conflict. Together, they made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) in 1963. But when her husband died in the late 90s, she was again all alone.

Today, she suffers most from loneliness, even as she finds herself sick and hungry. She relies on The Fellowship for groceries, care, and comfort. And most of all, Fredirika feels like she has family in her life again, thanks to Fellowship friends around the world who make this care possible.