The Shoah, the holocaust, left in its wake, in the rubble, innumerable stories- about children who were cruelly torn from their families, families who were eradicated, aimless wandering and death. Out of the annihilation often come stories of individuals who give face and name to the historical events. The story of Tikva Jeral - who was torn apart three times in her life - from three sets of parents - focuses on the evil and the good fortune that followed.
Her parents gave her for safekeeping to Lithuanian Catholics before they were murdered in the ghetto. After the war, her aunt from Kovno brought her to Palestine, undergoing an arduous journey, and raised her as her daughter. After some time, she was sent to other relatives in the United States.
Confusing? Extremely. This unbeliveble story is a true story, although even its protoganist find it hard to believe that everything happened to her.
"I love the race of time" she says, "I know that the passing of time is the only constant in life. That time passes. That time heals all wounds."
FROM KOVNO TO GIVAT BRENNER
Asya and Joseph Chelmovitch hugged a beautiful baby in Kovno, Lithuania. They were graduates of the Hebrew Gymnasium and spoke fluent Hebrew.
They called their daughter "Tikva" (hope). But the dreams the couple shared quickly disappeared. Tikva was the last child to be born in the Jewish hospital. The Slobodka Ghetto was closing in on them. Under the Nazi threat their studies were terminated and Joseph began work as a forced laborer. They sedated their baby in order to continue their conscripted work. The baby lost weight and her life was in danger.
Joseph decided to make a stand. One spring day he gathered the courage to approach a Lithuanian woman who was walking along the shores of the Neris River with her two daughters. "Don't be afraid of me" he said: "Just listen to me a moment. If you don't save my baby daughter's life, she will die". The Lithuanian woman, Bronia Gecevicius panicked. She was repulsed by the Jew's pitiful demand and hurried with her children to the printing press where
her husband, Edomas, worked. There she met with an unexpected response.
"Bronia" he said: "When you were a sickly child your parents entrusted you to relatives and that's how your life was saved. Jesus is giving you the opportunity to repay him."
That was enough. The Gecevicius family moved to another home in Kovno, far from the eyes of curious neighbors. They presented Tikva as the twin sister of one of their children. "Tikilita" they called her. Tikva was raised by the Lithuanians as their daughter for all intents and purposes. She went to church every Sunday and didn't inquire about her real parents.
After the war, Bronia took the initiative, went to the Kovno municipality and gave them Tikva's personal details in case one of her family had made it through the annihilation of the Slobodka Ghetto. By chance, it worked. A girl named Nechama showed up at their doorstep and presented herself. "I am Asya's sister, the mother of the child". Nechama rented a small apartment nearby and visited Tikva daily in order to build a connection between them. It slowly worked, till one day, Nechama announced to the distraught couple "I am taking Tikva with me to Israel".
Tikva arrived to Israel in 1947 with her aunt and family. There were members of Kibbutz Givat Brenner there to greet her and she was raised on the kibbutz as the daughter of Nechama and Bezalel Tauman. Tikva called them mother and father. Soon thereafter the Tauman's had a son, Yair. The shards of memories that Tikva recalled were invalidated by Nechama who said things like "Don't be silly, it's all in your imagination".
In 1950, when it was learned that Yair suffered from asthma, the family moved to Ramat Amidar in Ramat Gan. Tikva, who was a delicate and sensitive girl, embraced the Taumans as her parents. However, it was discovered that she had no talent for numbers. At the same time, Nechama, who was a didactic mathematics teacher, did some calculations of her own. She concluded that she could no longer carry the financial burden of raising the child during those hard economic times. They discovered family living in the United States and the cast was die. Psychologists advised Nechama to tell Tikva she was not really her daughter. The child was shattered but accepted her fate and the statement "You will have it good in America". Nechama promised that "Your Uncle Izzie and Aunt Edna will take very good care of you."
So at age 12, Tikva once again took leave of her family. She was torn apart. They told Yair, then five and a half, that his sister was going to America to relatives. His parents made him write to Tikva daily and it was only when he turned 13 that he discovered that she was not really his sister.
The steps taken then are unexplainable. "What is clear" says Vered Berman the film's director "is that the children's feelings were not taken into account when they were passed from hand to hand. Everyone who knew Tikva then claims that they thought it was in the 'child's best interest'. Emotion played no part in what happened. There were tough times to live in. If you could deal with the finances then everything else would turn out alright".
The film goes on to reveal that researcher Dr. Ben Lessin turned to "Yad Vashem" in order to have the Gecevicius family recognized as Righteous Gentiles. A reunion with the Gecevicius family was arranged and the ceremony bestowing the title of Righteous Gentile was held for Edomas, who had lost his wife a while ago.
FROM GIVAT BRENNER TO AMERICA
Decades later, Tikva Jeral and Yair Tauman went on a journey to learn more about this tumultuous period of their lives. The film "My Sister Tikva", as directed by Vered Berman and produced by Edna Nachum and Dina Kahanovits shifts between Tikva Jeral's life today as a retired social worker living with her husband Sheldon and their sons Joey and Benji in Baltimore, and her past in Lithuania and Israel. In Tikva's home there are songsters from the fifties which attest to the longing for Israel. Her connection to Hebrew was preserved through constant letter writing to Israel and to Yair in particular. Now he is Professor Tauman, a scientist and world renowned authority on Game Theory.
Tikva returned to Israel in 1970 with her son Joey who was then three and is today a psychiatrist. "There was tremendous excitement at the airport"
Tauman recalls "She lived with my parents for a month, and my mother blamed her for not coming back, since she claimed she sent her off for only a year." I don't think this story is correct. My mother never set her free. Her obsession with writing letters was crazy."
After that confession, the subject of Tikva was discussed endlessly in the Tauman home. "My mother thought that it was best for everyone" he says.
"My father objected to sending her but mother had made up her mind. In those days America was seen as being paved with streets of gold. She now had parents who were wonderful and worshipped the ground she walked on. When they came to take Tikva, they were certain that she was a damaged child. Instead, they found a beautiful girl, talented and sweet. They could not understand why anyone would send such a child away. There was a lot of tension and I have my own anger. On the one hand, it's easy to judge in hindsight when we worry about everything today. On the other hand, when you look at it more closely you discover that not everything is black and white."
Can you explain such a convoluted story from where you are today?
"It's a rare thing, but the big question is if it's possible to survive four pairs of parents and still remain sane. The interesting thing is that Tikva remained an optimist. That shows you something about human nature, about the inner strengths which are stronger than we think they are. She's fine, she laughs all the time and yet there is not a meeting between us when she doesn't talk about the Shoah".
FROM AMERICA TO GOD
And Tikva? She lives from day to day. "There are many movies about children during the Holocaust" she says in her home in Baltimore "I'm not sure why my story is so amazing. The film is made wonderfully but I still can't connect with it. It's as if I am peeking in on someone else. I wish I could feel something, but I can't find the emotion."
She's told her children about her past before they viewed the film. But she herself is not convinced that everything she saw actually happened. "There was a time when I thought Nechama and life in Israel was a nightmare I had" she says "I wanted to check that it was not a figment of my imagination. That was why I came for a visit in 1970. I discovered it wasn't just my imagination, but that I had had another life. I was able to separate the two".
Where do you gather the strength to go on?
"I simply don't remember much of anything. Except for short scenes. My first memory is of a house with closed shutters and the sound of breaking glass.
I don't remember suffering at all. I've erased my emotions. Perhaps it is due to this that I was able to go on. And that is the reason that I can't mourn over things that happened. The Shoah is not central to my memory. The insufferable detachment from Israel is."
Do you carry on discussions with God?
"I find it very hard to believe in God. I remember my Aunt Nechama telling me "'There is no God. If there were there would not have been a Shoah. God is simply not a part of my life."
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