On a normal day Michael Sawitzki can be found selling stones and tiles near Kemnitz, Germany. But this week he was in Israel, working for free, renovating the homes of Holocaust survivors.
“As a German, because of the suffering of the past it’s important to meet these people in a loving encounter and show love,” he told the JC.
Mr Sawitzki is volunteering with Saxon Friends of Israel, which has been quietly building and renovating for Israelis in need for 15 years. But the work has suddenly come under the spotlight now, because of a chance encounter on a plane.
Zalmen Wishedski, a Basel-based rabbi with a social media following, started praying during a plane journey last week, which prompted the man next to him, a religious Christian, to open a conversation. The man was called Roland and turned out to be a house painter headed to help Shoah survivors.
He showed the rabbi a brief note in Hebrew, English and German, which explained: “The Saxon Friends of Israel support Holocaust survivors in Israel. Volunteers from all over Germany renovate the apartments of Holocaust survivors with their own money during their vacations. The Holocaust survivors often live below the poverty line.”
Rabbi Wishedski snapped a selfie with Roland and posted it online. He wrote that Roland, 54, told him that he has visited Israel several times to volunteer, and the work causes the hearts of Holocaust survivors to “fill with joy.” The post went viral, first in the original Hebrew and then in English translation.
The current team consists of 20 people with experience in construction. They are renovating survivors’ homes in Jerusalem and Hadera and helping to build a soup kitchen. As soon as they leave next week, another delegation will arrive — the 11th this year.
The volunteers are all Christians, and many see their work as taking on religious importance.
“As a Christian, there is a requirement to comfort the people of God,” said Mr Sawitzki, who is a volunteer coordinator for the current trip.
Previous volunteers have taken part for very personal reasons — they know that family members were involved in Nazi actions during the Holocaust. “
There was a painter whose parents were active Nazis, and he said he wanted to do something positive,” Mr Sawitzki recalled. “He said he can’t deny it, but he tries his best to somehow build bridges.”
Rabbi Wishedski was impressed by the impact that meetings with the German volunteers have on survivors.
“Some even speak to him in German, a language many haven’t spoken and have despised for the last 70 years,” he reported. “And most importantly, Roland claims that he is there to show Holocaust survivors in Israel and around the world that the Germans are not the same people they were 70 years ago.”
Mr Sawitzki stressed that the work also impacts on the volunteers.
“The Saxonian people change through this experience,” he said. “In our hearts something happens to the people who work here. It’s very deep.
“People come to help and when we meet each other it’s a special encounter. The practical help is very nice but it [also] opens the door to allow people on both sides to open their hearts to each other.”
Speaking in a phone call from Basel on Monday morning, Rabbi Wishedski said that he was moved by the impact that his post created.
“I wasn’t thinking it was going to go viral with thousands of likes. Roland was saying that if he can do something good for one women, it makes the whole trip worthwhile, and it made me ask if the rest of us are doing everything that we can do.”
He added: “It’s special that he’s doing this as a German, and that instead of saying sorry 20 times he’s actually getting up and going to fix the house of a survivor.
“This is inspirational.”
