When Tsili Wenkert, a Holocaust survivor, saw her grandson, Omer, for the first time after his release from Hamas captivity, she knew he would recover.
Tsili was just a baby when her family was deported to a ghetto in Ukraine. She survived, made aliyah to Israel, and rebuilt her life until the arrival of October 7, which reopened deep, painful memories. In an emotional interview with Anat Davidov, Tsili shared how the sight of Omer’s smile in the hospital confirmed her belief in the miracle of his survival.
"In the hospital, I hugged him. I’m not the type to cry, I didn’t cry, but my heart cried for what they did to this child,” Tsili, 84, recalled with a trembling yet steady voice, describing the moment she first saw her grandson, Omer Wenkert, after his release from Hamas captivity.
Omer, who had been kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival, endured 505 long days of nightmares in Gaza. For Tsili, a Holocaust survivor who experienced the horrors of the war as an infant, Omer's abduction was not just a national tragedy; it was a personal wound that reopened distant memories.
When Tsili spoke about the emotions that have consumed her since October 7, she didn’t hold back, using the harshest words. "It was the second Holocaust I went through,” she said. “This time, my heart worked, my head worked. It was my real Holocaust. The fact that Omer was there and we knew nothing; it was worse than war, worse than illness, worse than anything.”
The resilience that had defined Tsili throughout her life was now tested by the “unknown” that loomed over her family. "The fear ate away at our nerves,” she said. "I'm not the type to be afraid, but when he was there, I was glued to the TV, thinking maybe I’d hear something. I didn’t hear anything until I saw him. It was hell for the whole family."
"The first time I saw him on TV, I saw a child, not a 24-year-old man; a 13- or 14-year-old boy, small," she recalled of the moment of his release. "The next day, we got approval to go to the hospital. He was thin, just bones." Despite the heartbreaking sight, there was one small sign that gave Tsili hope. "When I saw him smile, I said, ‘Blessed be God.’ A person who knows how to smile will recover.”
Since then, Tsili has accompanied Omer in his lectures and meetings. "He tells his sad and emotional story, and I have been fortunate to hear it several times. Every time, I am grateful to the Creator for the miracle He gave us."
Tsili Wenkert: From Ukraine exile to Israel aliyah
Tsili's story begins decades ago, in Ukraine and Romania. She was only a baby when the Germans expelled her family. "My first memory is from when I was three and a half, when the Germans left Ukraine,” she told Davidov. "I remember images from returning to Romania after the war. I entered the house of a girl my age, and I saw three beds, just like we had as a family with the grandparents and aunts. That image of the house was something I missed very much."
Despite the horrific conditions, Tsili’s family managed to survive almost entirely. "The grandparents, the aunts, the parents, they all survived. They all made aliyah." But the journey to Israel was not simple. Under communist rule in Romania, only adults were allowed to leave. Tsili and her parents had to wait another 20 years. "Only in '65 did we manage to make aliyah. I was already 23, married. Only my children were born in Israel."
Over the years, Tsili made sure to visit the memorial sites in Europe, from Auschwitz to Majdanek. "On every trip I made, wherever the Jews suffered, I was there," she concluded.