Pnina Hefer will be one of six survivors lighting torches at the State Ceremony opening Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem on May 5th.
Pnina Hefer was born in the village of Nuşfalǎu, Romania and had 20 brothers and sisters. Her father, Anshel Asher Weiss, was the community rabbi.
In May 1944 the village Jews, including the Weiss family, were rounded up and sent to the Szilágysomlyó ghetto. Some 3 weeks later, Pnina and her family were deported to Auschwitz. Most of the Weiss family were murdered in the gas chambers. Pnina was left with her sister Bluma. They were in Auschwitz for 5.5 months and underwent multiple selections. In late 1944 Pnina and Bluma were transferred to Bergen-Belsen. They were conscripted to forced labor at an ammunition factory in Salzwedel and were liberated by US soldiers on 14 April 1945.
The sisters traveled to Yugoslavia and boarded the Ma’apilim (illegal immigrants) vessel Knesset Israel in November 1946. The British intercepted the boat, and the passengers were sent to Cyprus. Pnina and Bluma eventually reached the Atlit detention camp in September 1947, and were reunited with 4 other siblings who had survived the Holocaust.
Pnina married Jacob, and they traveled to Tunisia as educational emissaries on behalf of the State of Israel. Later, they both taught at a Jewish school in Argentina, and then in Israel. Pnina is an active Holocaust survivor who tells her story to a wide range of audiences, and each year she celebrates the day of her liberation together with her entire family.
Pnina and Jacob have 3 daughters, 16 grandchildren, and more than 45 great-grandchildren.
For more details: www.yadvashem....