Holocaust survivors shaken by harrowing images of hostages in Gaza

Following the release of new images of hostages Evyatar David and Rom Breslavski in captivity in Gaza, the International March of the Living is once again calling for the immediate release of all hostages.

Holocaust survivors who participated in the March and walked alongside freed hostages and survivors of the October 7th massacre felt compelled to share their distress and deep identification with those still held in captivity.

Naftali Fürst, Holocaust survivor: “I watched with a heavy heart the painful images of our captive sons revealed in recent days. The hollow faces and frail bodies of Rom and Evyatar, held by the cruel terrorists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, take me back decades.

I survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. I know hunger up close. In the camps, we were given rations of bread and watery soup. We were so hungry, we would even eat grass if we could find it. I remember the humiliation—the complete stripping of human dignity. I know the fear, the terror.

When Eli Sharabi was released from captivity, I was deeply shaken. I was reminded of how I looked when I was liberated from Buchenwald. When I met Eli on Holocaust Remembrance Day in Poland during the March of the Living, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I embraced him and told him I was liberated after 1,033 days. We didn’t need to speak—we understood each other.

When we stood proudly—80 Holocaust survivors leading the March of the Living, 80 years after being liberated from the camps—we embraced the survivors of captivity and told them: there is comfort, there is hope. We, the Holocaust survivors, are living proof that one can rebuild life after the inferno—even a happy life.

But we cannot begin that process of rebuilding until they all come home—the living hostages and the fallen alike. Silence is a moral stain. We must cry out and do everything in our power to bring them back—quickly.”

Dvora Weinstein, Holocaust survivor: “For me, October 7th was a second Holocaust. When I saw the homes in Be’eri on fire, I saw myself—a five-year-old girl—watching my home burn. I was hungry for four years. When I saw the photo of Evyatar—skin and bones—I could hardly breathe; it hurt so much, I felt pressure in my chest.”

She added: “We had no hope that anyone would come to rescue us. I survived only because my mother told me every day that I must live to reach the Land of Israel. Our hostages have hope—hope that the IDF will come to save them, that we will save them. We must bring them home before it’s too late.”

Sarah Weinstein, Holocaust survivor, remembered: “I will never forget the hunger. Three and a half years—a little girl in the forest, starving. The images of our hostages that were published take me back to that forest, to the little girl I once was. I survived the worst of all—my mother was murdered before my eyes, and my father was killed soon after. Despite the terrible cold and the constant hunger, I survived. I lived.

My heart is with the hostages and their families, and I pray for the safe return of them all. We will only begin to heal from what has happened when everyone is home. I, and my fellow Holocaust survivors, will be there to embrace the hostages and support them.”

Israel Shaked, who survived the Holocaust in Hungary and was deported to the brutal Mauthausen camp in Austria, where he was eventually liberated, was also shaken by the images. He said: “I was exposed to the horrifying sights of the hostages in Gaza. Their bodies are painfully thin—nearly Muselmänner—their eyes terrified and vacant, their faces marked by despair and hopelessness. These images take me back to those dark days—to the hell, the hunger, the orphanhood, and the fear.”

Revital Yakin Krakovsky, Deputy CEO of the International March of the Living commented: “The heartbreaking images of our hostages in Gaza are deeply triggering for Holocaust survivors, immediately transporting them back eighty years in their memories. The Holocaust was unique—but there is no doubt that the hostages in Gaza are enduring unbearable conditions, some of which echo what Holocaust survivors experienced. Hunger is hunger. Terror is terror. And the antisemitism behind the Nazis’ crimes and those of Hamas remains unchanged.

At the March of the Living last April, Holocaust survivors walked side-by-side with survivors of captivity. The bond between them is profound—they understand each other through their eyes. They don’t need to explain the suffering or define it in words—they simply feel it. Survivors like Naftali, Sarah, Dvora, and Israel teach us that it’s possible to recover. But as long as the hostages have not returned, we cannot begin the long process of healing that awaits us—individually and as a society.”

Media release from the International March of the Living