Hundreds of strangers attend funeral of Holocaust survivor who died without family [View all]

Hundreds of Israeli strangers gathered on Monday to attend the funeral of 95-year-old Esther Greizer, a Holocaust survivor who died on Yom HaShoah without any immediate family to mourn her passing.

Israelis responded to a plea on social media to attend the Haifa funeral of the Hungary-born survivor. Hundreds of strangers descended on the cemetery for her burial on Monday afternoon and crowds thronged out into the street. Some mourners waved Israeli flags and others wept.

As a child, Greizer survived deadly medical experiments conducted by the notorious "Angel of Death" Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz death camp. Her great-nephew Yochai Gringlick said she was never able to have children of her own after the abuse she suffered at the camp.

Writing on Facebook, Gringlick said: “It didn’t prevent Esti from marrying the late Gershon and living a happy life full of love and giving [...] Because she didn’t have children, we were like grandchildren to her, even though we were her sister’s great-grandchildren.”


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"The collective guilt felt by the Holocaust is lessening."