Navy Unit-Reaching Out — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Contact with the Seafaring Vessels Department of the Navy

The Navy Spokesman Unit:

Re: A letter by Colonel S.

Dear Sir,

For the past seven years our Association of Jews from Vilna and the vicinity, which is an association of Holocaust survivors has had a reciprocal adoption program with Colonel S's naval unit.

Officers and soldiers of the unit are invited to participate in various events connected to the Holocaust that our Association holds and, by the same token, Holocaust survivors are invited to different events of the Navy.

Obviously, this arrangement is mutually beneficial to the two organizations.

Since we view this arrangement in a positive light, we have decided to upload some of the activities to our website and we have asked Colonel S., as commander of the unit, to write a few words.

Sincerely,

Zeev Leviatan

(Member of the Board of the Association)

In 2017, Colonel S., head of the engineering department of seafaring vessels, wrote:

"As officers and commanders of the IDF, we have a number of obligations, which due to our undertaking army service, become virtues. In the context of the Holocaust, this translates into the eternal remembrance as "Witnesses in Uniform", strengthening the IDF and the promise that "never again will it happen".

The link between "The Association of Vilna and the vicinity" and the engineering unit of seafaring vessels of the Navy was initiated by Major S. and Ze'ev Leviathan, a civilian working for the IDF: this connection emphasizes and realizes our commitment to remembrance while creating a warm, reciprocal, familial connection with the Holocaust survivors and their extended families.

Over the past few years we have been privileged to meet real heroes, to participate in remembrance ceremonies at Vilna House and at the Navy base, to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and to hear, first-hand, its horrors in Vilna and the vicinity; we have also participated in many other activities that gave us strength and filled us with gratitude and reinforced the justice of our cause.   

We will continue our commitment to the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust in joint activities with the survivors and their extended families as well as continuing to strengthen the Navy which is part of the strengthening process of the security of the State of Israel.

We hope and pray for the continued good health of the veterans of the Association and salute to their ongoing heroism.

Colonel S.S.

(Head of the Engineering Department of Seafaring Vessels of the Navy)