Superstar Israeli actress/producer Gal Gadot shared a moving post about her Holocaust survivor grandfather with her more than 78 million Instagram followers to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel.
Next to a photograph of her grandfather in his youth, she wrote:
Yom Hashoa. Holocaust Remembrance Day.
This is my grandpa, Abraham Weiss, he was born as Adolf Weiss but changed his name after the war for obvious reasons.
My grandpa was born in Czechoslovakia also known as the Czech Republic.
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His father was drafted into the army and never returned, and so his mother was left with 2 young boys, Abraham, My grandpa, and Benjamin.
After a long journey on the train to Auschwitz, being squeezed together with an inhuman amount of people in a railroad car, he was separated for the last time from his mother and younger brother. In what is called “the selection”.
He never saw them again.
In no time he became a 13 year old orphan who spent every day trying to survive, the sights he saw, the horrors he went through are unimaginable.
For years he didn’t talk about it, only after my grandma passed he realized how short life is and how important it is to tell the story so history will never repeat itself.
NO ONE, should ever be oppressed or persecuted for their race, religion or for any reason.
That’s my take on life.
My grandpa’s legacy lives deep in my heart.
He loved people, he believed in them and he respected people for who they are.
He came from the darkest, most oppressed place and with a seed of hope he built himself a new life in Israel.
I pray that we, as humans, will come together and stop the bloodshed, everywhere and forever.
I pray for our children to have a normal, positive and fruitful future where people come together, and where we let hope and love rule the world.
Remember and never forget #WeRemember
Gadot has spoken in the past about her pride in her heritage. She and her husband and producing partner, Jaron Varsano, are developing a movie she will star in about Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust.
The Wonder Woman star also posted an Instagram story, in both English and Hebrew, about the Zikaron baSalon project, which sponsors events in which people invite others to discuss and learn about the Holocaust in their homes, and welcomes survivors who can speak about their experiences. One such event is being sponsored by Hot, the television network for which Gadot is a spokesperson. The organization gives guidelines on its website https://www.zikaronbasalon.org/ for setting up such meetings.