Award presented to George Shefi by German Ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert

Holocaust survivor George Shefi, who had to flee Germany at the age of 7 on the Kindertransport to Britain after the “Kristallnacht” pogrom just before the outbreak of the WWII, received the Federal Order of Merit from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier by the German Ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert. The emotional reception was held last Friday at the Ambassador’s residence in Herzliya ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. George’s mother was murdered in the camp. Four generations of his family and the Deputy CEO of the International March of the Living organization, Revital Yakin Krakovsky, attended the event.

Ambassador Steffen Seibert said at the ceremony that he was proud to present Shefi with the Federal Order of Merit from the German President for his educational activities with German students: “Germany wants to thank you for choosing, as a witness to history, despite the trauma you experienced as a child, to dedicate your life to telling your story in schools, sports clubs and parliaments to create reconciliation and understanding for a better world. Anyone who has heard George will be able to stand up to Holocaust deniers.”

Ambassador Seibert added that we must be vigilant because “the danger has not passed, and we must act decisively against growing antisemitism.”

Holocaust Survivor George Shefi: “It is a great honor for me to receive the Federal Order of Merit from Germany for my long-standing work for Holocaust education in Germany. Holocaust survivors must tell their story because we are the last generation that can testify to things firsthand. During my life, I have done this with thousands of German students to whom I said that they are not to blame for what happened to us, but they are responsible for it never happening again. This award demonstrates the Germans’ understanding of what happened and their commitment that such a thing will not happen again. The fact that the award is given to me in the 80th year of the liberation of Auschwitz, the camp where my mother was murdered, is another expression of the title of my book about my life, which is “The Way of Fate”. I will forever be grateful for my mother who saved my life”.

“George Shefi is an inspiration,” said Revital Yakin Krakovsky, Deputy CEO of the International March of the Living. “The mission of the March of the Living is to pass the torch of memory and responsibility from the survivors’ generation to the next generation. George is responsible for creating thousands of new young witnesses to his story who take responsibility for Holocaust memory and the need to fight antisemitism. We are honored that George will march this year in the March of the Living at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It will be an emotional and meaningful closing of a circle.”

George (Spiegelglas) Shefi was born in Berlin in 1931. When he was a year old, his parents divorced and contact with his father was cut off. During the “Kristallnacht” pogrom, George was almost 7 years old. His mother, in an attempt to save his life, decided to send him on the Kindertransport out of Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of the war. The last time George saw his mother was at the train station in West Berlin. In January 1943, she was deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered. Shefi immigrated to Israel in 1949, enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, and started a family.

Shefi participated in a documentary produced by the International March of the Living, in honor of Holocaust Survivor Henry Moskowitz z”l, marking the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport operation along with two other surviving children, Walter Bingham and Paul Alexander. The film was screened in the presence of the President of Israel and his wife Issac and Michal Herzog, and the three, together with other Kindertransport children, received a special award from the President and the International March of the Living.

Shefi thanked the March of the Living organization: “I would like to extend my appreciation to the International March of the Living organization, which gave me the opportunity and the honor to take part with my wife Yael and my eldest daughter Tami in a reconstruction journey of my rescue route as part of the Kindertransport and of course for the film produced about this journey – “Journey of Hope”.