In a powerful video produced by the Claims Conference, titled “#OurHolocaustStory,” the gripping narrative of Ester Bratt’s survival during the Holocaust serves as a poignant reminder of the horrors faced by Jewish communities in Europe during World War II.
Bratt, who was just 12 when the Nazis invaded her native Vilna in 1941, shares her wartime experiences, including her incarceration with her family for almost a year in a labor camp and their subsequent escape and time in hiding until Soviet troops liberated the city in 1944.
Bratt is joined in the video by her granddaughter and two great-granddaughters, who pledge to remember her story.
The video delivers a vital message about the importance of passing the lessons of the Holocaust down to future generations, as well as the urgent need to confront contemporary hatred and persecution eight decades later.
Bratt’s video can be viewed below:
#OurHolocaustStory: Ester Bratt was 12 when the Germans invaded Vilna. After a year in a labor camp, a rumor swirled that the Nazis were going to kill the city’s remaining Jews. Ester and her mother fled to a Polish man named Nikolai who hid them in his cellar. Her father later… pic.twitter.com/kso3uHUpz6
— Claims Conference (@ClaimsCon) July 5, 2023
For more information on the Claim Conference’s “Our Holocaust Story: A Pledge to Remember” digital campaign, please visit: claimscon.org/ohs
