The Shoah exceeds all boundaries of the imaginable.
It eludes all attempts at description.
Kaddish
“I never cried at the loss of my parents
I could never say Kaddish
I never understood their inconceivable death
I never grasped the inhumanity of their murderers
My parents are entombed in heaven
They share the grave with six million souls
Good people, simple people, prevented my death
Generous people took me in as their child
I have built a family, I love them, they love me
I will die. Then, surrounded by angels, I will say the Kaddish.
Herbert Odenheimer. Hubert Odenheimer. Hubert Odet.
Herbert Loeb. Ehud Loeb. אהוד לב
Born. Deported. In the Camp. Orphaned. Hidden. Saved. Adopted.
Married. Father. Grandfather. Will Die.
His Sons will say Kaddish For Him.
Jerusalem, 19th December 1999”
Ehud Loeb was born Herbert Odenheimer in Bühl (Baden) in 1934. He was deported with his parents to Gurs in 1940. He was able to leave the camp in February 1941 with the help of the OSE and he survived in hiding in many children’s homes and with French families. His parents were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau. In 1946, Ehud Loeb was adopted by relatives in Switzerland. He emigrated to Israel in 1958, where he became an art historian and started a family. He died in 2018 in Jerusalem.