The Extraordinary Story of Holocaust survivor Motke Wiesel
He lost his family in the Holocaust, fought SS officers and became an MDA volunteer at the age of 93
The story of the life of Motke Wiesel (93), a resident of Jerusalem, is full of tragedies and wars of survival but on the other hand is full of power, volunteering and giving back to the public. From 1988 until today, Wiesel has volunteered at the Jerusalem station in Magen David Adom and has become the organization's oldest volunteer of all time.
Wiesel was born in 1929 in Transylvania and had five brothers and sisters. In Auschwitz, he saw his family disappeared in front of his eyes and this, he said, was the greatest trauma of his life he could not overcome it. In 1944, when he was only 15 years old, Wiesel confronted an SS officer when he slammed the officer into the sandbar and to his astonishment and to the astonishment of the entire ghetto, he was not punished and miraculously survived. "The whole ghetto was proud of me for daring to shout at an SS officer. He himself did not know how to react and was in complete shock. I was taken to court at the end of the day, after 10 km of walking and I was waiting for a death sentence. After a few minutes, we were told ‘released’ and we just went to sleep. I was the hero of the camp," Wiesel recalls excitedly.
"One morning, a Russian tank broke into the camp and the soldiers told us that we were free. It was all over, just like that. At first we did not believe them and were afraid to move even an inch, but very quickly we were filled with feelings of joy and liberation. We devoured the food. We slept for 48 hours straight," Wiesel recalled excitedly. He immigrated to Israel in ‘46, got married and started a family. He currently has eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren and lives in Jerusalem.
Wiesel finished military service in the field of logistics, stumbled upon the MDA warehouse and fell in love. "I was retired and came across the MDA warehouse in Jerusalem. Since then, I have been there, volunteering around the clock over the years. In my opinion, MDA is one of the most important organizations in the country. To this day, everywhere I present myself as a proud and happy MDA volunteer "adds with a smile. Wiesel survived the Holocaust heroically, fought against the SS and even served in Israel as chairman of an organization supporting Nazi prisoners in Jerusalem.
Eli Bin, MDA Director General: "Motke's inspiring life story touches the hearts of us all and makes us proud of his tremendous contribution to the Jewish people and his heritage which includes values, giving and free love.
