Holocaust Memorial Day

I’m often asked what heroism is, and what the greatest act of heroism I’ve ever witnessed or taken part in was. My answer is this: the greatest act of heroism was carried out during the Holocaust by the mothers who gave up their babies to monasteries and Christian families in order to save them. In this courageous act—one that goes against the deepest instincts of nature and basic humanity—they gave life to their children, knowingly or unknowingly, and ensured the survival of the Jewish people.”

These words were spoken today by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yossi Peled at the Technion’s Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony, which marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the liberation of the camps. Peled, later Major General of the IDF Northern Command, a government minister, and a member of the Knesset, was himself saved as an infant when he was given by his mother to a Christian family in Belgium at the age of six months.

In his address at the Technion, he added: “The State of Israel is a miracle, and our historic duty is to preserve it.”