Uri Chanoch
The Center Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel takes its leave from Uri Chanoch
Uri Chanoch passed away on 1st September 2015. His dedication for perpetuating the Holocaust survivors and fighting for their rights was exemplary and was shown in his positions as a member of the board of the Center Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, as the Chairman of the Association for the Memorial for the Victims of the Landsberg-Kaufering Dachau Camps, and as a member of the board of directors of the Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, and as a member of the Yad Vashem Council.
Dozens of friends and associates attended Chanoch's funeral. The words of his wife, Yehudit, were very moving, followed by eulogies given by their grandchildren, friends and representatives of the Association for the Memorial of the Landsberg-Kaufering Dachau Camps. Collete Avital, Chairperson of the Center Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, said in her eulogy that: “It is difficult to talk about Uri in the past, to talk about who he was and what he symbolized for us all. In our eyes, he is still very much alive, and it is difficult to come to terms with the fact that we are here today to say good-bye. Uri was broad-minded, a man of culture in every vein of his soul, a man who loved life and creativity. He had the courage to fight and stay alive, because he loved life despite the terrible tragedy he had experienced during the Holocaust. As a survivor of the Kovno Ghetto and the Landsberg-Kaufering Dachau Camps, he had personally experienced all the diverse methods of suffering – forced labor, starvation, beatings, humiliation”.
Avital talked about his difficult and gripping life which was full of daring during the Holocaust.
“He was just a boy of 13 when he and his family were sent to the Kovno Ghetto where he was recruited by the underground and endangered his life by stealing work permits in order to get Jews out of the ghetto. He also saved the life of his 9-year-old brother, Dani, by hiding him during a Children Aktion, and refused to disclose his hiding place even when the Nazis beat him until he fainted. Not only did he survive the Landsberg-Kaufering work camp but, in April 1945, while he was being taken to Auschwitz on the death train, he managed to save his own life during the bombing by the US forces by jumping from the train, despite the very weak state he was in after four years of being imprisoned in the ghetto and the camps”.
Talking about what he had been through and what he had done following his immigration to Eretz Israel, she said: “His strong survival instinct enabled Uri to rehabilitate himself and build a new life, starting as a teacher in the German and Italian DP camps. He immigrated to Eretz Israel in June 1946, and became a member of Kibbutz Alonim. It is impossible to talk about Uri without remembering his inherent fighting spirit, especially in the Palmach where he again put his own life on the line and was even injured, and then afterwards, throughout his life, in his struggles to improve the lives and rights of survivors both here in Israel and abroad, as well as his efforts to have property seized by the Nazis and Communists during WW2 redeemed”.
Avital added: “I remember so many of the meetings and conversations with him when he found it difficult to accept the way the Lithuanian government behaved when evaluating and returning community property, and was convinced that it was necessary to continue putting pressure on them and fight for what is right. I remember the incessant struggle for the Bavarian government, with whom we are in close contact, not to permit the republication of Mein Kampf. I see so many pictures flashing in front of my eyes – of Uri with the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, demanding the rights of survivors; of Uri who knows and understands the new generation of German leaders, going around the schools in Israel on an information and outreach campaign; of Uri who presents his prisoner’s coat to the Dachau Museum with pride and emotion; of Uri who fights against the performing of Wagner’s works in Israel; and of Uri who loved the opera and enjoyed listening to music so much. Of Uri who always wore a smile when he came into our offices, his humor and always having a good word to say. I remember the last conversation we had, two weeks ago, when he called to say we had won: that after all, the Bavarian government was not going to permit the republication of Mein Kampf.
“There is so much to tell, how enterprising and innovative he was and his ability to break into the business world but, today, I want to remember the people-loving Uri. Uri who adored his wife, Yehudit, and who was so proud of his daughters. Uri who didn’t talk much about his heroic deeds, but wanted us to remember a young orphan of 16. A boy with no family, who had come to Eretz Israel after the Holocaust, joined the Palmach as a volunteer and was killed in a battle at Kiryat Anavim. This was the Uri who we loved so much. It is difficult to say goodbye, Uri. We are going to miss you so much”.
Upon hearing of Uri’s passing, Julius Berman, the President of the Claims Conference, wrote: “It broke my heart to hear about the passing of Uri Chanoch … as a survivor he was more than familiar with the horrors of the Holocaust … he was an uncompromising proponent all his life not only of Israeli survivors hailing from Lithuania, the land of his birth, but also of those from other countries. He had been a member of the board of the Claims Conference since 2008 and, starting from 2011, he acted as a member of the negotiating committee while working with the WJRO (the World Jewish Restitution Organization). For nine years he was the acting representative of the Lithuanian survivors in negotiations which culminated in 2011 with an agreement that the Lithuanian government would transfer US$ 1.1m to the Goodwill Fund. With the help of the Claims Conference, this fund has transferred compensation to about 2,000 survivors worldwide. The agreement also includes a payment of US$ 53m to be paid over 10 years to the Lithuanian Jewish community in compensation of their stolen property”. Berman added that, in August 2013, when he met Uri with Chancellor Merkel during her visit to Dachau, she had asked him: “How can you return to such a place?” He replied: “Even after so many years, the pain doesn’t go away. The memories of what happened and of the six million and our families, those memories don’t leave us alone, I still think about them all – my sister, my little cousin. But we must go on and keep living”.
In between: From Kovno to Israel – a beacon for renewal.
He was born in Kovno, Lithuania, in 1928, was educated in Hebrew school and was a member of Beitar. In August 1941, his family was sent to the ghetto. Uri, who was 13 at the time, started working as a messenger boy for the German Labor Ministry. He was recruited into the underground and, at great risk to his own life, he stole work permits which enabled many of the Jews to escape from the ghetto and join the partisans. During the children Aktion, Uri managed to hide his 9-year-old brother and, despite the severe beatings he suffered, he didn’t reveal the hiding place and so his brother was saved.
In July 1944, the ghetto was evacuated and the few who survived the Aktions were deported to Germany by freight trains. En route, the women and children were taken off at Stutthof in Poland. That was the last time that Uri saw his mother and sister. The men were transported to the Landsberg-Kaufering work camp in Dachau. A few days later, the remaining children, including his brother Dani, were sent to Auschwitz.
Due to the hard labor, hunger and beatings, his father’s health deteriorated and, in October 1944, he was sent to Auschwitz. Uri was left on his own and, to satisfy his hunger, he started eating salt and drinking water. His body swelled. He became weak and lost his will to live. During roll call, he stepped forward knowing full well that it would lead to his death. The camp commander’s Jewish assistants who knew him from the ghetto, intervened on his behalf and the commander ordered him to be removed from the roll call and assigned him the job of cleaning the office. This was how Uri was able to save the life of his good friend Haim Konovitz, who had been badly injured in a work accident. The camp doctor, Dr. Zachrin, agreed to save his life in exchange for a supply of tobacco for his pipe. Uri risked his life stealing cigarettes and tobacco from the pockets of Germans working in the office and so Haim Konovitz recovered and was saved.
In April 1945, those remaining in the camp were sent to Dachau by train. The train was bombed, and Uri managed to jump off it and escape under a barrage of bullets, run to the forest and hide until the American army came and he was liberated. In 1946, after surviving the Landsberg-Kaufering Dachau camp, he immigrated to Eretz Israel with his brother Dani who had survived Auschwitz, on the illegal immigration ship Wedgewood. He enlisted in the Palmach and fought with the 4th battalion to liberate Jerusalem from the siege. He later served as an officer in the IDF. He was an industrialist most of his life and, following his retirement, he engaged in public service for the survivors. He is survived by his wife, Yehudit, three children and 5 grandchildren. In 2006, he was chosen to light one of the torches in the Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony at Yad Vashem.
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