Jewish Instagram Holocaust Collaboration Leads To Rare Nazi findings

What will become of all the memories?

That is the six million dollar question that was recently answered by the Jewish traveller known as Picturemacher and the Jewish photojournalist, best recognized by his Instagram handle, HasidimInUSA, who teamed up with The New Eichlers judaica store in Borough Park, and took their loyal Instagram followers on a remarkable trip to Florida in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the two popular social media influencers took their passion for storytelling to the warm streets of Miami Beach, where they personally met with elderly survivors to converse and document the incredible stories they were eager to tell. Each survivor was presented with a special gift from The New Eichlers.

With the sun high in the sky, the two young men first interacted with an elderly Jew who was being wheeled by an attendant. He looked up from his Tehilim when prompted, and rolled up his sleeve to reveal the numbers tattooed on his arm. He then relayed that he was merely a teenager when the Holocaust destroyed his life, but he had come to America, “noch mein tzoris” (after his sorrows). He proudly and emphatically proclaimed “I lived to rebuild a new tribe”.

Following the nonagenarian into Shul proved to be a wise decision and the eager journalists were very pleased to be invited by a fellow New Yorker visiting his mother-in-law to interview a ninety-plus old female survivor.
The timing of their visit resulted in the incredible opportunity to observe Mrs. Lefkowitz hosting her grandchildren and seven year old great-grandson.

Mrs. Lefkowitz described the nightmarish details of her short stay in Auschwitz where she avoided being tattooed after her and her sisters were sent to a work-plant in Riga that manufactured parts for German war planes. She recounted a memory about a gentile Polish prisoner who admitted that he was deliberately sabotaging production so the German airplanes wouldn’t land successfully. He disappeared shortly after.

The absolute conviction and unparalleled faith these incredible survivors maintained all throughout the war was revealed once again when Mrs.Lefkowitz was liberated. She relayed how she and a friend immediately abandoned their few possessions on the train platform after being reminded – by a Jew in a shtreimel, no less! – that they had arrived on Shabbos. She managed to provide for herself by smuggling illegal contraband through the borders of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. She chuckled when admitting to casually tossing packages of cigarettes on the side of the road in order to avoid being detained.

The highlight of the visit was when seven year old Shimon sang her favorite Reb Yom Tov Ehrlich song “Yakob”  in Yiddish. The moment was incredibly heartwarming.

The last stop of the day was a pre-planned visit with Mr. Eliezer Ostreicher, a white-bearded Zeidy originally from Debrecen. The journalists let the camera film the poignant moment when after being asked what Yeshiva he had attended in his youth, Mr. Ostreicher answered by rolling up his sleeve to reveal the infamous camp tattoo unfaded on his arm. “I went to this Yeshiva” he proclaimed and continued to describe how at fourteen years old he had been transported in commercial trucks, and had to survive three days without food, water or toilets. He described the harrowing experience of being separated by the devil himself, Dr. Mengele, who upon arrival in Auschwitz permanently separated him from his dearest friends.

He relayed how shoeless, starving and terrified, the Jewish prisoners dropped like flies during the death march, until only sixty out of nine hundred people remained standing at the end.

Through his tears, Mr. Ostriecher glanced through the Auschwitz documents that the photojournalists had brought with them from New York and the tears continued to flow as they wrapped up their meaningful visit singing pre-war Yidddish songs. Leaving copies of the documents behind (as per his request), the day culminated with a chance meeting with a fellow, who upon hearing of the interviews being held invited them to his apartment. There they discovered a trove of never-seen documents that they were able to share with their thousands of followers instantly on social media.

The son of a U.S. Intelligence Serviceman, he eagerly recounted the amazing story of how he had come into possession of these files that appeared to be originally obtained from Hitler’s personal drawer, along with other memorabilia like a collectable gun and daggers that had hung on Hitler’s wall. Seeing Hitler’s name in print was enough to give these two young men chills, and while skimming through the hundreds of documents, they discovered an incredible collection of letters from politicians, celebrities, and clergy congratulating Hitler on being elected leader of the Third Reich. There were also some documents that suggested some were opposed to the ideals of the Nazi movement.

The last and possibly most significant moment of the day was when he brought out a candlestick that had belonged to a Jewish cantor from the town of Dramburg that had been gifted to the the cantor on his wedding day by the local community.

No Jew or trace of Judaism was left in Dramburg besides for this candlestick. Today, thanks to this remarkable trip, this candlestick and a handful of painful memories, will be remembered and shared for generations to come so that indeed, the next generation of Jews will Never Forget.

https://www.instagram.com/picturemacher/

https://instagram.com/hasidiminusa?igshid=15f5iax3517oz

https://instagram.com/neweichlers?igshid=tojosqcju2sz