“At my age there isn’t really a reason to get up in the morning. Yad LaKashish gives me that reason- a reason to get out of bed, to put on nice clothes and to come to work. Here I get financial support but also social support. I enjoy the friendships I have made here and the staff. “

Mira R. was only 3 ½ years old when the Nazi’s came to the small town she lived in with her family in Ukraine,  Sinenkow. The city was an important connection city for trains through Ukraine and had a large railway station. During the months of June and July 1941, Nazi’s began flying planes over the station and dropping bombs near the platforms. Each time a plane flew overhead, people would run for cover, hiding wherever they could. Often times, parents would lift their kids into passing train cars hoping to be able to jump in themselves after before the train took off. Many families were torn apart this way as cars passed and parents were unable to get in.

Mira doesn’t remember much from these months but knows the stories she heard from her family. Her father was a doctor so the family stayed behind to take care of those who were injured during the attacks. During one of these bombings, her father ran to hide behind a tree. He heard someone calling his name from afar and ran to follow the call. Moments after he began to run, the tree he had been hiding in was hit by a bomb. Her father recalled human limbs lying everywhere and shrapnel covering the grounds.

Finally, on the last train out of Sinenkow they escaped to Uzbekistan. Her father worked in a hospital there which provided him a small room for his family. The family, which included more than 10 people, lived in Uzbekistan for 3 years before returning to Sinenkow. When they arrived in Sinenkow, only half of their house was still there and they had no way to repair it. Like others, their house was inhabited by new people and they had difficulties taking their home back.  Mira recalls that not many people returned to Sinenkow after the war.

Mira moved to Israel in 1995 and joined Yad LaKashish in 2009. She works in our silk painting workshop and enjoys having somewhere to go every day.