Founder of Ganzach Kiddush Hashem
Rabbi Moshe Prager
The Holocaust author and research, and founder of Ganzach Kiddush Hashem, Rabbi Moshe Prager, was born in Poland in 5669 (1909) and passed away in Israel in 5745 (1984). The well-known author lived in the three worlds that Ganzach Kiddush Hashem strives to commemorate. He saw European Jewry flourishing prewar, witnessed the terrible destruction of the Holocaust, and merited to see a new generation rise from the ashes. Rabbi Prager felt that he was like a bridge between the ages, connected the past that was destroyed with the current and future generations. While many of the survivors were only able to speak about the atrocities many years after the events, Rabbi Moshe Prager delved into the subject immediately after the Nazi invasion of Poland. Even during the war, Rabbi Prager strove to smuggle documents abroad about the annihilation. He understood the enormous importance of documentation and the preservation of memory and considered it to be his life mission until the day he died. After the Holocaust, Rabbi Prager engaged in all forms of documentation and commemoration: He wrote books, stories, and articles which became cornerstones of Holocaust literature. The highlight of his activities was the establishment of Ganzach Kiddush Hashem. While Rabbi Prager managed to escape and settle in Israel, his entire family and community were murdered by the Nazis. His memories lived within him at all times, as he elaborated upon in one of his poems: “Every evening I burn in the furnaces, and every morning I emerge from them alive and well.”
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