Haim Raanan recounts enduring two harrowing experiences reminiscent of the Holocaust.
The first unfolded during his childhood in a Hungarian Jewish ghetto amidst World War Two. The second was on a southern Israeli kibbutz, where he, alongside his grandson-a similar age to him during the Nazi persecution-his son and their caregiver concealed themselves for hours in a small, cramped safe room.
They hoped to evade detection by the gunmen who infiltrated their town from the Gaza Strip on October 7 and seized control.
Raanan told Reuters that their house had not come under attack. However, more than 100 friends and neighbors from Kibbutz Beeri died or had been taken hostage to Gaza. About 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken captive by Hamas that day in the attack that triggered the more than three-month-old war in Gaza.
A Second Holocaust
Six million Jews perished in the Nazi Holocaust amidst the terror of hiding from bombs in crowded basements and living under the constant threat of Hungary's fascist Arrow Cross militias. Raanan vividly recollects those haunting moments through the lens of a young boy.
This year, he consented to be photographed and share his story at an event named 'Humans of the Holocaust.' This innovative showcase utilizes digital storytelling to establish a connection between the declining number of living survivors and a younger generation less versed in the details of Nazi atrocities.
Raanan, along with thousands of Jews, was rescued by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who facilitated their move to a safer location by issuing diplomatic papers. Raanan was 10 years old at the time.
He suffered for years from the trauma of his childhood, he shared with Reuters. The Hamas Oct. 7 rampage hit him even harder on a personal level. Raanan remains aware that such a comment will not be easy for everyone to understand or accept. "Logically and emotionally, this (time) I will remember the tough feeling," he revealed from the retirement facility in Tel Aviv, where he and his wife have sought refuge following the evacuations of towns along the Gaza border.
Two days later, the 88-year-old attended the exhibition hosted by the European Union delegation in Israel ahead of Saturday's International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
In the exhibited photograph, Raanan is sitting on a sofa, wearing a dog tag around his neck in solidarity with the hostages still held by Hamas. He holds up a cell phone displaying a black-and-white picture. In the smaller, grainy photograph from decades earlier, he and his mother stand side by side, both donning the yellow star patches on their chests that Jews were once compelled to wear.
Reuters reported that Ranaan, from behind the podium, with the dog tag still dangling around his neck, spoke of the heavy emotions he felt from the Oct. 7 attack. The attack prompted the retaliatory Israeli offensive in Gaza, in which Palestinian health officials say at least 25,700 people were killed.
"In the Kibbutz Beeri massacre, I know every single person, every single member of my kibbutz and their children. For me, it was a second holocaust," he concluded.
