Panama’s Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Ezra Cohen, is a warm and active man, his roots are planted among the illustrious families of Persia and Jerusalem, and on his mother’s side, the glorious families of Thessaloniki and Bitola, Macedonia, communities that suffered the horrors of the Holocaust and drank the cup of Nazi poison to the brim.
The ambassador, for whom Jewish history is alive and beating in his heart, and who has been occupied by a sense of continuity and commemoration for many years, toured Ganzach Kiddush Hashem, was greeted by the heads of the education, archives, and publishing departments, and received an overview of the organization from its administration.
The ambassador was content when the head of the genealogy department, Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Shmuel Schapira, presented a special presentation on the lives of the ambassador’s family members and the communities in which the Cohen and Russo families, the ambassador’s ancestors, lived and worked.
Rabbi Yaakov Rosenfeld, a writer at Ganzach Kiddush Hashem, told of the noble behaviour of the members of the Panamanian community in 1940, when they hosted German refugees who arrived destitute in Panama. The kind-hearted Panamanian Jews went out of their way to help them, host them, and provide them with clothing, food, and shelter, and this was during wartime, and thus it was not easy for anyone at the time…
The members of the Panamanian community did everything they could, and even managed to free the German Jewish refugees from the conditions of detention they experienced due to their definition as subjects of an enemy country, and from them came the foundation of the “German-born community” in Panama.
Mrs. Rachel Yud, Chairwoman of the Board, presented a sample of the moving testimonies of Holocaust survivors who told of the heroism of the Jewish spirit and the strength of faith that revived the hearts of the Holocaust victims and survivors during the difficult times.
The Ambassador was presented with artifacts from the museum. Great excitement was evident on his face when he was given the opportunity to touch six tiny tefillin (phylacteries) that survived the camps. The moving story was conveyed by the CEO, Rabbi Zvi Skulsky.
Mrs. Chana Rotenberg, a lecturer and educator, told about the life of her mother, who survived the Holocaust alone, and from the devastation and extermination was able to grow and establish a blessed Jewish tribe of her own. The Ambassador was amazed to hear that the Holocaust survivor is the proud grandmother of five hundred descendants…
After a “light tasting” of the museum’s exhibits and archival documents, the Ambassador greeted the management team and the employee representatives of the Education and Archives Division, and expressed his desire to maintain strong ties with the long-standing institution that instills the consciousness of Jewish heroism among broad audiences in Israel and around the world.
