Auschwitz survivor celebrates 104th birthday with 400 descendants

Shoshana Ovitz wished that her birthday celebration would be with all of her family together at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

By ALEX WINSTON
The site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau (photo credit: REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL)
The site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau
(photo credit: REUTERS/KACPER PEMPEL)
The family reunion of an Auschwitz survivor went viral on the Internet as she celebrated her 104th birthday last week at the Western Wall surrounded by approximately 400 of her descendants.
Shoshana Ovitz wished that her birthday celebration would be with all of her family together at the Jewish holy site.
Ovitz survived Auschwitz after witnessing her mother being handed over to the infamous Nazi doctor and “Angel of Death,” Josef Mengele, known for his cruel experiments on prisoners.
Her father also died in the Holocaust. After the liberation of Auschwitz, Shoshana met Dov Ovitz, a cousin of hers whose wife and four daughters had also perished in the Holocaust.

After the liberation of Auschwitz, Shoshana met Dov Ovitz, a cousin of hers whose wife and four daughters had also perished in the Holocaust. They married soon after and lived in Austria before moving to Haifa, where they had four children together.
Ovitz’s eldest granddaughter, Panini Friedman said, “Only during the celebration did we understand how important she is. We all had tears in our eyes. It was very moving,” Walla reported.
Friedman told Walla that even with 400 people there, not all of the family could make it.
“We’re missing about 10% of them,” she said.

Ovitz took the opportunity to bless all her family together, and said that she merited surviving the Holocaust after honoring her parents, one of the most important commandments in Judaism.
Photos and videos of the gathering soon went viral over the Internet.
The Israel-advocacy organization StandWithUs tweeted a video of the celebrations, and the Auschwitz Memorial account tweeted a photograph of the whole family together.