A Holocaust Survivor Celebrates Her 100th Birthday!

Home Page Our Impact newsA Holocaust Survivor Celebrates Her 100th Birthday!

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Lina Bornstein, who was born in 1922 in Kiev, Ukraine, celebrated her 100^th birthday this week together with the staff and residents of Amigour Sheltered Housing in Netanya.

In her youth, Lina worked in a top-secret department dealing with the KGB’s historical archives. Lina was employed in this position for nearly 46 years. During her work, she exposed many cases of violence and severe antisemitism.

In 1994, she immigrated to Israel without any family, settling in Netanya.

This month, she celebrated her 100^th birthday at her home in the Amigour Sheltered Housing facility in Netanya, a Keren Hayesod-supported project. Helping her celebrate were her neighbors, her caregiver who has been with her for many years, and the professional staff of Amigour.

It was a joyous and celebratory event. Although she has no family or children to celebrate with, she was surrounded by love, and received a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

When asked about her secret to living a long life she said, “everything is from above (referring to G-d) and it is important to take advantage of every moment in life, to the fullest.”

Amigour Sheltered Housing manages 56 homes/projects for the elderly, which includes nearly 7,000 residents who are entitled to public housing from the Ministry of Housing and Construction and the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption. A large majority of these are new immigrants from the Former Soviet Union and Holocaust survivors.

The celebration of Lina’s 100^th birthday comes at a symbolic time as people around the world come together for International Holocaust Remembrance Day to commemorate the lives of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

January 27^th is not only a day of commemoration, but a day to honor the stories of each individual, like Lina who stood witness to the horrendous atrocities of the Holocaust and are here with us today to share their stories with the world so that the horrors of the past are never repeated.

Thanks to Keren Hayesod-UIA supporters around the world, we can be there for Lina and thousands of Holocaust survivors who are in need of our constant support.

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