On Holocaust Remembrance Day, hundreds of strangers attend funeral of Auschwitz survivor
Esther Greizer, 95, who died overnight and was laid to rest in Haifa, was unable to have children after being subjected to experiments as a child at the death camp
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Hundreds of strangers on Monday attended the Haifa funeral of 95-year-old Esther Greizer, a Holocaust survivor who died overnight and does not have any immediate family.
The participants thronged the cemetery after a plea went out on social media for people to attend the funeral of the Hungary-born woman who survived the Nazi atrocities.
Greizer’s great-nephew, Yochai Gringlick, wrote earlier on Facebook that his aunt was unable to have children due to experiments that she was subjected to as a child by the notorious Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
“It didn’t prevent Esti from marrying the late Gershon and living a happy life full of love and giving,” he wrote. “Because she didn’t have children, we were like grandchildren to her, even though we were her sister’s great-grandchildren.”
“Unfortunately, there will be no shiva,” he added, referring to the traditional Jewish mourning period for immediate relatives of the deceased. “She doesn’t have children and her brothers are all already dead. There will only be a funeral.”
Monday is Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, the annual memorial for the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide.
The Times of Israel Community.