The story behind this touching ceremony is the kind of that can happen only here in Jerusalem.
By PEGGY CIDORAll aboard: (from left) Michal Fundaminski, Shlomo Tuval, David Gross, Rahel Gross and Shimon Futterman at the First Station(photo credit: PEGGY CIDOR)
The somewhat restrained atmosphere didn’t mask the great emotion that charged the air on Thursday of last week at the First Station.At a site where a fabulous collection of model railways is exhibited, display director Shimon Futterman handed David Gross, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor surrounded by family, staff and friends, two very large boxes containing a complete set of state-of-theart computerized model railways, courtesy of the German company that builds them.The story behind this touching ceremony is the kind of that can happen only here – combining elements such as social activities for Holocaust survivors in the city, a private initiative of a man who managed to concretize his childhood dreams and a city where forces can conspire to make a dream come true, even after so many years.Avia Friedlich, a social worker with the municipality specializes in programs that enable Shoah survivors to socialize despite their terrible memories and experiences. A few weeks ago, she and Michal Fundaminski, an art therapist working with the theme of “Puppets and Dreams,” brought a group of Shoah survivors who meet on a weekly basis to the exhibit. Fundaminski encouraged these people, mostly in their 80s and 90s, to imagine how they could fulfill some of the dreams they never had a chance to pursue because of the war and the camps.On the day he visited the exhibit with a group of other survivors, David Gross was overcome by emotion. Choking back tears, he couldn’t go inside to look at the trains. A concerned inquiry by Futterman and Fundaminski revealed a moving story that Gross had kept locked in his heart for many years.Born in Hungary, Gross was taken with his family to a labor camp. Despite the inhuman conditions, he survived until the end of the war and even had the improbable luck to locate his mother. Gross is reluctant to elaborate on his experience as a youth in the camps and prefers to put the emphasis on the fact that once free, he was able to be with his mother in Vienna, Austria, during the few years that remained to them. Afterward, he made aliya.As a young child, Gross said he was always attracted by the trains he saw in shop windows, but his wish to get one for his birthday could never be fulfilled because of the prolonged war and its consequences. The sight of the trains so many years later in Jerusalem brought back childhood memories and he couldn’t suppress his emotion.Futterman’s passion for trains was the impetus for the exhibition at the First Station, which offers visitors – adults and children alike – a glance at the fascinating world of model railways. Drawing from his experience as an educator for children at risk, Futterman was struck by the emotion of the visitor and tried to find out what was driving it. Upon hearing Gross’s story, he decided to write to Märklin, the German company that provides the exhibit with model railways and handles their installation. The Germans announced that they were sending Gross a complete set – the last word in model railways, including all the computerized accessories – courtesy of their factory.Last Thursday in Jerusalem, Futterman, his associate Shlomo Tuval, Fundaminski, Friedlich, and Gross’s wife stood filled with emotion as Gross received the train set sent specially for him from Germany.
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