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Basel mourns Shlomo Graber: a witness of hope is gone
Shlomo Graber, Holocaust survivor and honorary citizen of Görlitz, has died at the age of 99. His life's work will never be forgotten.
Basel mourns Shlomo Graber: a witness of hope is gone
A light has gone out: Shlomo Graber, an important Holocaust survivor and soulful artist, has died at the age of 99. His Israelite community in Basel announced the sad news. The Czech native, who spent his childhood in Hungary, has dedicated his life to remembering and reporting on the horrors of the Holocaust. For over 35 years, he worked to bring the stories and dangers of the past closer to younger generations in schools and public institutions.
Born on July 13, 1926 in Maidan, Graber and his family were deported to Poland as stateless people during the Second World War. This move led him to the ghetto and ultimately to Auschwitz, where he lost all of his family except his father. Graber himself survived not only Auschwitz, but also other concentration camps such as Fünfteichen and Görlitz before he was liberated by the Red Army on May 8, 1945. His moving life story was never kept secret; Instead, he conveyed his experiences in numerous publications, including the works “The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Hate” and “Escaped Death Three Times.”
Life after the Holocaust
After the war, Graber emigrated to Israel in 1948, where he served in the army for seven years and then worked in the electronics industry. In 1989 he moved to Basel and worked there as a painter and author. His heartfelt paintings often found their way to the gallery of his partner Myrtha Hunziker, where he lived surrounded by his art and spread his message of love and reconciliation.
His mother had given him an important lesson: “Love is stronger than hate.” Graber lived this credo to the end and pleaded for understanding and tolerance in a world threatened by extremism and nationalism. His life's mission was not only to pass on his personal experiences, but also to raise awareness of the dangers of hate. Herbert Rubinstein, former executive director of the Jewish Community in the Rhineland, recently expressed concern about rising hatred of Jews, which makes the relevance of Graber's commitment all the more clear.
A legacy for the future
Graber was one of the last witnesses to the Holocaust in Switzerland. His legacy is kept alive through projects such as “ZEUGNISSE”, launched by the Claims Conference and ZDF. Here survivors tell their life stories to keep memories alive. These initiatives are essential because, as the ZDF editorial team and history teachers emphasize, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find contemporary witnesses who can report first-hand about the atrocities.
Although Shlomo Graber's light is now gone, his legacy remains. The messages of his works and his life will continue to inspire and help create the connection between the past and the present. These issues are more relevant than ever, especially at a time when extremism is back in vogue.
The city of Görlitz honored Graber with honorary citizenship, and Federal President Gauck received him in Berlin in 2015. This not only honored his personal fate, but also his role as a living bridge between the past and the present. In Basel he will be remembered as a formative member of the Jewish community.