When Eva Slonim was a 12 year old girl, she was tortured by the notorious Josef Mengele in Auschwitz. Stories of her harrowing years in the Shoah and her defiant path to rebuilding her life after the war left an indelible mark on her grandson Ronen. Last year, at age 24, Ronen left his comfortable life in Melbourne Australia and moved to Israel where he is serving in the Paratrooper unit. From his army base where he is mid-way through advanced combat training, Ronen spoke to Aish.com about his life, his decisions and the relationship with his grandmother that has guided him every step of the way.
I knew my grandmother had a story to tell
Growing up in the leafy Melbourne neighborhood of Caulfield, one of five siblings, Ronen says he was in his teens when he first understood his grandmother Eva had an important story to tell. "We lived nearby,” he says, “I would visit every Shabbat and usually during the week as well. We talked about our lives, what was going on during the week. Sometimes, as Shabbat was drawing to an end and we were sitting together, she would open up about some of the things she went through."
Eva Slonim showing he tattoo she received in Auschwitz-Birkenau, A27021
Eva Slonim, 88, was born Eva Weiss in 1931 to a religious Jewish family in the Slovakian capital Bratislava, then a major city in Czechoslovakia. Her father owned a successful textile business, she attended a Jewish day school and enjoyed happy times in what was then one of Europe's thriving Jewish communities. The second oldest of five children when Hitler rose to power, Bratislava was part of a protectorate which aligned itself to Nazi Germany. Amid a steady rise of anti-Semitic legislation and attacks, she witnessed her brother assaulted in broad daylight and her grandfather’s front teeth knocked out when officials stormed into their family home. Her father was also arrested with no reason given, released two weeks later for a heavy ransom which her mother managed to pay.
Understanding that things were only getting worse, the Weiss family separated and went into hiding, but their former nanny betrayed them. Eva was 12 in 1943 when she and her younger sister Martha, were deported to Auschwitz.
Nightmare as a Mengele twin
Guards at Auschwitz had specific instructions to pull identical twins from the crowds of confused arrivals at the camp. Although escaping the immediate death sentence that awaited most others deemed useless to the Nazi regime, these children were to become human guinea pigs at the disposal of the notorious Dr. Joseph Mengele.
Although three years older than Martha, Eva looked very similar to her younger sister and they were pulled aside. It was under Mengele’s cruel watch that she sustained a series of often daily examinations and injections leaving her weak and ill, as the so-called medical team at Auschwitz noted the daily effects of their tests on her. Never told the reasons of what was being done to her, she saw other inmates fall sick and die around her, never knowing what the next day would bring. On one occasion her number was called and she had four bottles of blood removed, leaving her already frail body on the brink of collapse and even more exposed to disease.
Eva and her sister (center) united with other survivors pictured on their liberation
By the time of her liberation she was suffering from tuberculosis, typhoid and dysentery. Together with her sister she was one of ten children photographed behind barbed wire by the Soviets as they liberated the camp on January 27 1945. It was to become an iconic image, which Yad Vashem later recreated, bringing together Eva, her sister and the other surviving children pictured beyond the barbed wire.
Staying alive
A member of Bnei Akiva, a Zionist youth movement from age six, Eva has said that even during her most difficult experiences a great love of the land of Israel kept her alive. “It gave me enormous hope and aspiration to the future. It was something I could really cling to.”
She made a pact with God after seeing the horrific state of the inmates on her arrival to the camp. “I saw women standing against a barbed wire fence looking emaciated,” she said in testimony. “They looked more like caged animals than humans.” Terrified that she would become one of the inhuman mass of bodies she was looking at, Eva turned heavenward, “One day, I will have a large family and try and rebuild all that has been destroyed,” she said, “But only if you don’t deprive me of my feelings.”
After being liberated, both sisters were reunited with their parents, moving to Australia, far away from Europe’s blood-soaked shores. It was there that Eva kept her part of the promise.
Rebuilding
In 1953, aged 22, she married Ben Slonim, and together they set about raising a family built on the strong Jewish values Eva had remembered from her own childhood. "We joined my grandparents every Friday night,” Ronen says, “The Shabbat meals were full of singing and there was always a warm atmosphere. Judaism played a central role in our family.”
Before going into hiding, Eva’s father had buried a Torah scroll the family had owned. He managed to dig it up after the war and take it with him to Melbourne. "Every simcha the family had," Ronen says, "we would read from it in the synagogue. It still gives my grandmother great joy to hear one of her grandson's read from it."
Eva Slonim
“My grandparents had a big influence on me when I was growing up,” Ronen says. “It was quite difficult to hear the things that she had been through,” recalling that he sometimes woke up with nightmares. “The stories of how she managed to stay connected to her Judaism also had a big effect on the way I saw Israel and the heavy role in its importance,” he adds.
He visited Israel with his family to mark his bar mitzvah. "It was a very special experience," he says, "especially to be there with my grandparents. There were lots of family and close friends there, and I read from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall."
Dreaming of aliyah
After finishing school, Ronen returned to Israel, this time to pursue his Jewish studies at the Har Etzion yeshiva south of Jerusalem where his love of Torah learning grew alongside his desire to one day make Israel his home.
"It was something I thought a lot about then," he says but shelved for a few years as he returned to Australia to complete a degree in Economics at the University of Melbourne.
Ronen with his aunt and grandparents
"I’d always thought that if I made aliya I would also serve in the army," he said. "But I was getting close to my mid-twenties.” Realizing he was running out of time if he wanted to join a combat unit, it was Seder night during a family trip to Israel in 2017, when things finally crystalized. “It was the moment I knew that Israel was where I belonged,” he said. “I told myself, enough, I’m going to do this."
Finding it hard to break the news to his mother, he wrote her a letter. "It was the easiest way to express it," he said, adding that the decision was made harder because his father had passed away when he was just 14. "She was very supportive," he said, adding, "Melbourne is a great place to live. I just wanted to be a part of what I saw and felt in Israel."
Telling his grandmother he was leaving Australia was one of the hardest things Ronen says he has had to do. "We are very close; even now we speak every week and catch up. She is a big supporter of Israel and after everything she went through she is very proud to have a grandson serving in the army.”
Joining the paratroopers
When he made known his plan to volunteer two years in a combat unit where he would be five years older than his commanding officers, Ronen recalls there were many naysayers. "’You won't cope being told what to do by 18 year olds,’ people told me. But it hasn’t been further from the truth," he says. "I have really bonded with the soldiers around me."
Ronen with his younger brother.
The only lone soldier in his unit, Ronen says, “It is immensely satisfying and meaningful to be here. It is an honor to be serving in the IDF. I am privileged to be able to play a small part in protecting the Jewish People. When there are tough moments, I just have to remind myself of that."
One of a handful of religious soldiers in his unit, he is given time to pray three times a day in accordance and says he always finds times to study Torah every day. "When we are on the base, I can do a little more, and when we are out in more rugged terrain, I may do a little less, but I always learn. It's become an essential part of me which I couldn't be without."
Looking up at the stars.
“One thing that has always stuck in my mind from my grandmother's experience,” Ronen says, “was something her father told her before they separated to go into hiding. ‘Who knows long it will be before we can speak to each other again,’ he told her. ‘Every night, look at the stars and speak to them. Tell them your worries, speak about your day, what’s on your mind, and I’ll also look to the stars, and will do the same. This way we'll stay in contact.’"
Those words, “Gazing at the stars” would later become the title of Eva Slonim's memoir, a chilling and inspiring account of her life before, during and after the Holocaust. The words have also left their mark on Ronen.
"When I’m training at night, trekking through terrain,” he says, “I often also look up at the stars. Sometimes I think about my grandmother and what she described, sometimes I think about my father and my family, and sometimes I just pinch myself wonderidng if this is all real. I am living a dream serving in the Israeli army."
(40) Sylvia, May 20, 2019 8:10 PM
Heart rending and heartwarming at the same time with a happy ending. May G-d watch over Ronen and our wonderful IDF.
(39) VALERIE BARTLEY, May 16, 2019 7:59 AM
WHAT A WONDERFUL AND ENCOURAGING ARTICLE. WHAT A PERFECT WAY TO BE TRIUMPHANT IN THE FACE OF UNSPEAKABLE TRAGEDY. TO CHOOSE TO MARRY AND RAISE A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY. AM YISROEL CHAI! G-D BLESS THIS GRANDSON WHO IS NOW A PROTECTOR OF YISROEL IN THE IDF. SHALOM!
(38) Etty Ben-David, May 14, 2019 11:46 PM
Eva Slonim
What an amazing ,incredible lady. I have the pleasure and the honour to meet Eva and even spend time with her in Auschwitz during the March of the Living.
May Hashem continue to shine upon and Bless her.
(37) Paul lindenauer, May 14, 2019 2:56 PM
You can not “play in the game of life” by sitting on the bench!!
Once u are”off the bench”...life can take you anywhere and if not where you want to be you can always take another shot !!...great article displaying great courage on many levels...thank you
(36) Bes Steelman, May 12, 2019 9:32 PM
Love for you and your family from a Christian Zionist
G_D has Blessed you to freely give your best for your Grandmother and Israel. I honor you as a lone soldier with a future in Israel...and help to shape that Holy Land. SHALOM.
(35) Baruch, May 12, 2019 5:00 PM
Finding good amongst bad
As usual, it was I was nervous about hearing stories about the Holocaust, never knowing how bad the story would be. However, I was glad to here that the author of the story was frum, even after the Holocaust. That is really surviving the holocaust. The fact that her grandson is also frum is a testament to believing and trusting in Hashem.
(34) Linda Rivera, May 11, 2019 2:27 AM
God had this beautiful lady survive
Very few people know about Operation Paperclip. I just ordered the book. I don't know if the book mentions MK Ultra. I know about MK Ultra. It's very sad and very terrible.
Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen Also:
Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945-1990
by Linda Hunt
May 1, 1991
(33) Annie Lass, May 10, 2019 10:28 PM
Deleted comment
This comment has been deleted.
Linda Rivera, May 11, 2019 3:57 AM
The Germans thought they were twins
His grandmother, 12 yr old Eva was 3 yrs. older than her sister Martha. But the sisters looked the same age and looked like twins. Satanic Mengele was obsessed with doing horrifying experiments on twins. The terrible things are not all mentioned here.
(32) Noach, May 10, 2019 4:17 PM
Very amazing story, it reminds me very much of my grandmother also from Czechoslovakia B'H
(31) Carl Lambrecht, May 10, 2019 3:02 PM
Holacaust come in many forms all painfully deadly
Moses gave us the 10 commandments of God.
Moral have value.
Love Saves Lives
Carl Lambrecht 847 471 8210
(30) Anonymous, May 10, 2019 12:55 PM
Inspiring paratrooper
Thank you for sharing this inspiring story. It is very important! Wishing Ronin the very best!
(29) Suzanne Aladjem, May 10, 2019 11:26 AM
Inspiring bless the family
A very moving article, after the atrocities committed against Eva, she’s still an inspiration to her family and the community. Kol Hakavod to her grandson for keeping Israel safe. May Ha Shem look after him. ??????
(28) Amir Tamari, May 10, 2019 4:04 AM
Wow! Great story! Kol Hakavod Ronen. I know how you feel. Hazak Vematz, from a Golanchik, your brother.
(27) Dawn McLaughlin, May 10, 2019 2:45 AM
So enjoyed Ronan’s story!
How I enjoyed Ronan’s story especially the wonderful job his grandmother did passing on the account of the sufferings of her family. Tonight I will gaze at the stars. Thank you!
(26) Anonymous, May 10, 2019 1:58 AM
Headline confusing
I founf the headline confusing, Mengeles grandson serving in the ID F?
Annie, May 10, 2019 3:19 AM
It was !
I thought that one of Mengele's grandsons was in the IDF. What ???
But this story is just as good. Mengele must be looking up from Hell and cursing.
Anonymous, May 10, 2019 8:38 AM
Perhaps the headline could have read ' Grandson of Mengele 'Guinea Pig Twin' etc.....
It does sound as if he's Mengele's great-nephew and that Mengele had a twin, hideous thought.
(25) Alina, May 9, 2019 9:14 PM
Aussie...way to go!
Also remember the Slonims from Bnei Akiva in Melbourne. Ronen... Welcome to Israel.... May Hashem always be with you ! Leaving comfortable Melbourne to come to the army is real Kiddush Hashem . As a midwife in Israel I feel that every Jewish baby born is revenge for my parents families killed in the Shoah
Anonymous, May 11, 2019 4:01 AM
It's Much More than Revenge
Jews must have LOTS of children. It's much more than revenge. It's Victory. It's Triumph!
(24) SShoshana Beauchamphoshana, May 9, 2019 7:04 PM
Absolutely moving testament to your grandmother and you. May G-d keep you safe forever!
(23) Hanna Perlberger, May 9, 2019 6:59 PM
A beautiful and inspiring tribute of the life-saving power of connecting to a higher purpose. This allowed Eva's story to continue, and it is still being written in the lives of her children, grandchildren and so on...
(22) Diane, May 9, 2019 6:20 PM
This article should be required reading for all 12 years olds.
(21) Sue Bruns, May 9, 2019 4:53 PM
I do appreciate the service that Ronen is giving to Israel. I have a daughter and her lovely family living on Kibbutz . She since 1984. I wish for more to go to Israel to defend the wonderful country.
(20) E Wilson,, May 9, 2019 4:43 PM
'Adopt a Photographed Holocaust Victim Memory'
The young man or woman in the centre of the lead photo, shown in Auschwitz and whose wearing a white headscarf, is the identical image of my own son. They are so much alike that it would be impossible to tell them apart. Likewise, in the Auschwitz Album there is a photo of a young girl aged 8?, who had just alighted from a death-train, she also is the exact double of my daughter Sara,, for these excellent reasons I have adopted these two and always think of them as my adopted-relations. Following on from this I think a charity should be started that allows one to informally adopt a photographed victim or camp inmate, and, as a debt of honour one should undertake to pay another child school fees as a Memorial Gesture of Sympathy for those you have adopted. or known to have suffered. May I ask, did the 1st person I mentioned survive the Holocaust and his identity is now known? EW Leeds UK.
Anonymous, May 10, 2019 3:22 AM
I was astonished to see a photo that could have been myself as a child in Martin Gilbert's book about 'The Boys' as they were always called, although some were girls. As I have Jewish ancestry, I have wondered ever since if she was a distant relation.
Annie, May 10, 2019 8:32 AM
The one in the white scarf is the grandmother, Eva who is still alive; the boys are wearing caps. All the girls are wearing scarves. She and her sister are the girls in the centre of the photo.
The adults in front of the old photo are the 'children' now.
E Wilson, Leeds UK, May 12, 2019 2:47 PM
Holocaust Victims who have doubles - look alikes-today.
Thank you Annie for your explanation, I would like to show others the photo of my son, but I know he would not approve and would get really annoyed with me if I did. The resemblance I think is because during the Shtetl period of Jewish history, to some extent you must have had close relations marrying, which resulted in gene-copying and huge numbers of look alikes. I know my son and know he would not have survived the Holocaust, meaning any camp with these horrible people in charge would have shattered him. It was a known fact in the camps that people from better class homes, people with dignity and obvious strong reasoning powers failed quickly. Others may well argue that the Germans killed anyone who looked cleverer and wiser than themselves, so Jewish intellectuals were targeted by them as possible camp underground leaders capable of organising a revolt. Looking a German camp official in the face with a look of disapproval was a sure way to get killed. In the camps the scum ruled and they should have all been hanged with no exceptions in 1945/46.
(19) Marilyn S Rosen, May 9, 2019 4:29 PM
Very poingnant story.
I am very proud to have read this story. I cannot imagine what Eva went through or any of the other 6 million. I am extremely proud of her grandson Ronen and maybe listening to this story has made me want to go to Israel. My son married an Israeli girl and lives there now. I long to have that feeling of wanting to go to Israel.
Branda, May 9, 2019 10:35 PM
JUST GO
PACK AND RUN
And be grateful the girl is not ONLY JEWISH,, but, from ISRAEL.
Good trip. ?????
(18) raymond watson, May 9, 2019 4:28 PM
wonderful & amazing
An amazing and wonderful family story and amazing tale
of truth and courage ......Love the Jewish People
Ray
(17) Anonymous, May 9, 2019 3:48 PM
Thank you for sharing your experience with Us.... It's extremely meaningful to ME.. Personally... Hatzlocho with Everything You do... לך מחיל אל חיל בכל מעשה ידך
(16) Anonymous, May 9, 2019 3:32 PM
Ronen
FINALLY! Yasher Koach! Something worth while!
(15) Anonymous, May 9, 2019 3:17 PM
Gazing at the Stars
What a happy ending to a life journey interrupted by horrific monsters. And Ronen in Israel is such a blessing.
(14) Meyer apfeldorf, May 9, 2019 3:08 PM
Epsreins in pressburg
Can u pass along to eva.. any recollections of Epstein restaurant?
(13) Anonymous, May 9, 2019 2:56 PM
Beautiful!
Thank you for sharing this important and beautiful- and inspiring!- story!
(12) Danielle Messaouda Boulakia, May 9, 2019 2:04 PM
Very touchy profound and beautiful Kol akavod G.d bless you and Israel
(11) Anonymous, May 9, 2019 9:32 AM
Exceptional Article
This article was beyond moving. Thank you for giving it over to us.
(10) Tommy Lamm, May 7, 2019 7:47 PM
Kol Hakavod.I remember as a child Ronens great grandparents .in melbourne.I wish other youngJewish Aussies would join him.Behatzlacha health and happines.
(9) MESA, May 7, 2019 4:37 PM
Revenge indeed! This is the best kind of revenge. Every mitzvah that Ronen does is a slap in the face to all Jew-haters. Serving our homeland in the IDF is huge. Thank you for sharing.
(8) Marsha Queen, May 7, 2019 10:32 AM
My sister Laura and I and my son Ari and his girlfriend Reilly will be visiting israel in August Can't wait to meet my Israeli Relatives My sister is on Dyalysis can she receive treatment in Israel?
Love,your Relative,
Marsha
(7) Anonymous, May 7, 2019 1:29 AM
such a good read
(6) Matan Slonim, May 6, 2019 10:12 AM
Matan Slonim
Such a nicely written article! Very proud of my brother!
(5) Anonymous, May 6, 2019 7:45 AM
Am Israel Chai!
Am Israel Chai! Thanks for your service to the Jewish people. I’m certain your grandparents are proud.
(4) Nathan, May 6, 2019 5:57 AM
Tzaddik
Great stuff Ronen!
(3) Anonymous, May 6, 2019 5:10 AM
Family background
Very moving article His maternal grandmother has lived in Israel for over 50 years
(2) Anonymous, May 5, 2019 7:26 PM
Yasher Koach from another Aussie
Our family lives in Melbourne Australia. Our family is also from Bratislava (Pressburg) then Czechoslovakia, now called Slovakia.
We know personally and are on good terms with the Slonims and we wish Ronen on;y the best for his Aliya!
(1) Arnold Newton, May 5, 2019 6:04 PM
I am a 97 old survivor, I can identify with the story. Thanks,
I left Krakow, Poland in 194o with my father a miraculous escape. Our name was Nowomiejski, meaning "Newtowner".
I am Jewish, a retired Defense- and Communications-engineer.
Brand, May 9, 2019 10:43 PM
Much, much MAZEL to you.
HASHEM should be with you.
Much Love ❤️