Beginning in 1988 with small, informal gatherings a group of Holocaust survivors started to meet and share experiences before they quickly grew and started holding conferences anually. In 1997 they formed the Federation of Jewish Child Survivor groups. They call themselves “Mishpocha,” (also the title of their newsletter) and they affectionately refer to each other as siblings. They have member chapters throughout the world in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary, Holland, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States.
They represent 7.5-10% of the Jewish children in Europe who survived the Holocaust. They also make mention that out of the 6 million Jew killed, approximately one fourth of those were children under the age of 16.
These overcomers help support each other by sharing stories and relating experiences. Though their childhood was anything but normal, they have since grown to become spouses, maintain careers, and prove that people can and do overcome bad situations.
One of their purposes is to remain active in helping survivors locate siblings lost in camp. They seek to use their experiences for the greater good of humanity. Also, because their children have many questions and issues that they struggle with, this close-knit community serves not only to support their own children, but each other’s as well.
The mission statement of this organization emphasizes that their intent is to provide support and community as well as education for society. They do this by using their stories to make a mark on society that will hopefully spread the kind of awareness needed to prevent the Holocaust from reoccurring.
All pictures were taken at the 1999 conference in Prague, Czech Republic from Thursday, September 2nd to Sunday, September 5th. Nearly 1000 were in attendance to encourage and be encouraged while sharing their painful stories from the Holocaust along with their victories and successes.
