Överlevarna

1937 “I was an only child. My father died when I was four years old. My mother remarried his cousin. They had four more children.” 1947 “I got married when I was fifteen. My husband, Mahmud, was eighteen. It was shortly before al-Nakba.” 1948 “Israeli aircraft bombed the houses in our village. My mother was at home cooking and baking bread. She closed all the doors. Our house survived, but the nei...

1948 “Before I had turned seven, we finally got a school in our village. My father wanted me to receive an education. I, along with eight other girls, started school. Four months later, al-Nakba occurred.” 1982 “After the Israelis attacked Beirut in 1982, the Red Cross issued temporary permits to travel to Palestine. My husband and I crossed the Lebanese border and stayed for one month in Ijlil al...

“I always slept next to my grandmother. I used to lie there hugging her. One evening, I woke up to gunfire and bombing. There were only children and women in the room. It was crowded. Everyone was lying on top of each other. Then I noticed that my grandmother had been shot in one breast. She was bleeding heavily. Even my twelve-year-old brother Ahmad was shot by the occupation soldiers. He was hit...

“My country is not a suitcase, and I am not on a journey.”

1948 — When was the first time you met a Jew? “It was when they bombed our village and we were forced to flee with only the clothes we were wearing. Everything else we had to leave behind. But I never actually saw them. We fled to the Christian village of Rmeisch, on the Lebanese side of the border. Friends of my parents owned a house there. They allowed us to stay for six years. They bought cloth...

- When were you born? 'How can I remember when my mother gave birth to me? I am 95 years old. As a child, I had a carefree life. We used to collect wood so that my mother could light a fire and bake bread. I helped at home too, preparing food.' - What did your father work with? 'He was a farmer.' - Did you go to school? 'No, we laughed at those who went to school. I ought to kill you.' (Starts lau...

1946 ”As a boy, I remember the beach in Tantura. I was five or six years old. The sand was soft, clean, and white. The water was shallow far out. The coast consisted of alternating coves and small islands. I used to swim in the sea with my father. That is an important memory. 1948 ”I started school in March 1948, but three months later we were forced to flee. Tantura was occupied on May 24, 1948—t...

1946 “When I was four, I used to go with my mother to the stream. There we filled our buckets with water. I remember sitting under a tree eating figs. I was never allowed to go to school; instead I had to help on the farm and take care of the sheep. There were no Jews in my village. But in Acre (‘Akka), my father had several Jewish friends. Josef and Schlomo used to come and help us during the har...

1933 “My father worked in the soap industry. The olive oil season runs from November to March. Father used to work for four months. Then he would rest until the soap had dried and could be wrapped in paper. Nablus lies in a fertile area and is surrounded by olive trees and an abundant supply of water springs. Olive oil and water are two prerequisites for making soap. For thousands of years, soap h...

“For many years I wished that just once I could return to Palestine—for a single hour—and then I could die. But as a refugee, that was impossible. When I became a Swedish citizen and received a Swedish passport, I was able to go back to Palestine. In 1989 I returned for the first time. I traveled as if in a heavenly ascent, like Jesus or like Muhammad. My body and my soul were united. My body beca...

”My father was a technician and welder; at first he ran a café by the sea. From 1963 to 1988 I had no contact with my parents.
They thought I had died. It was hard to get in touch—I didn’t want to sit there and become sad and cry. In 1989 I went to visit my parents in Gaza and also visited someone in the PLO. When I returned, I was detained. Memories: In 1948 we were forced to leave Ashkelon.
I kn...

“I was born in Bayt Dajan, a village near Jaffa. In 1936, during the Arab Revolt, the British and the Jews began terrorizing our village at night. They were looking for weapons and resistance fighters. They came to our house while we were sleeping and searched for weapons under our mattresses. Two of my uncles were arrested and sentenced to death by the British. They were imprisoned outside al-Qud...

“Being in flight means starting from zero.”,

“Falastin is like the blood in my body. Haifa is like the air I breathe. They live within me”,

”The jews started shooting. My dad took us to a cave in southern Safad. In the Jewish quarters there was a high building. They were shooting with a single shot rifle. Me and my cousin was laying flat on our stomachs on top of the cave. We were almost hit, I heard the shot and saw the whirling dust. We ran and took shelter in the cave. After three, four days we went down to the creek. We were afrai...

Is there anything you’re wondering about before we begin?” “Where are my four boys?” (points to four photographs on the wall). “Aziz was 30 years old when he disappeared, Ibrahim was 25, Mansur was 22, and then we have Ahmad, who was 13 years old when he disappeared,” says Amman Hassan Banat. “Yesterday was the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and now they have been missing for 37 ye...

- Pappa överlevde Auschwitz, men fick TBC. De opererade bort halva ena lungan och några revben, som han sparade i garderoben. Det var äckligt, säger Sylvia Kalischer. Såg du hans ärr? - Freig nisht. Jag minns inte.

Betraktar du dg som överlevare? - Jag föddes 1941 och hade under andra omständigheter kunnat ha mördats, som många i min familj. På det sätter är jag nog en överlevande och hör hemma i de överlevandes krets, säger Lasse Dencik.

- En gång bjöd mamma de svenska grannarna på ett kaffekalas. Hon bakade centraleuropeiska kakor, fyllda med vallmo. Men det blev ett väldigt fiasko. Hennes kakor, som hon hade arbetat så mycket med, låg kvar ouppätna. Grannarna hade väl väntat sig kanelbullar. Efteråt satt mamma vid bordet och grät.

- 1957 blev det skilsmässa. Min mor och jag och bror Paul, kallas Palle, flyttade till Långholmsgatan 24. Min mor gick bort alldeles för ung, jag var bara 17 år. Palle och jag bodde kvar i lägenheten själva, säger Lennart Mankowitz.

- Jag tror inte mamma kände sig helt accepterad av pappas judiska familj. Min farmor och mina fastrar tyckte att mamma var lite fin av sig. Kommentaren var att ´innan hon gick ner till tvättstugan, så gick hon till frisören´, säger Gun Lieberman.

- Jiddischteater är en motståndshandling. Den berättar att vi är här, vi har en historia och en framtid, säger Willmar Sauter.

- Mina morföräldrar, Bernhard och Berta Birnick, var väldigt ortodoxa, väldigt strikt kosher. En gång köpte min mamma och hennes syskon räkor i fiskaffären. De sprang hem till mormor och morfar på Ringvägen och gömde sig i deras garderob. Där satt de och åt upp räkorna, säger Hans Fink.

- Mamma lyckades överleva Förintelsen och kom till Sverige. Hon väntade med att berätta vad hon varit med om tills jag var tretton, fjorton år. Det var väldigt klokt, tror jag, säger Ulf Sender.

- Jag hade inga syskon och bara mina kusiner som var judar. När jag skulle fylla fjorton var jag var Glämsta för första gången. Det förändrade hela mitt liv. Där var det hundra på ett fat, säger Suzanne Kaplan.