of Marios Dimitrios
On 24.2.2016, the Ministers of Defense of the Republic of Cyprus and Israel, Christoforos Fokaidis and Moshe Yaalon, took part in an unveiling ceremony of a Cyprus-Israeli Friendship monument, at the camp of Lieutenant Vassiliou Kapotas, in Nicosia. It is the former BMH (British Military Hospital), the colonial-era British Military Hospital, where approximately 2.200 babies were born, the fruits of love of thousands of young Jews, men and women, survivors of the Holocaust, held in the detention camps of Karaoli Famagusta, Dekelia and Xylotympos , whom the British had imprisoned in the years 1946-1949, to prevent them from immigrating to Palestine. One of those children, 68-year-old Zehavit Blumenfeld, who was born at BMH on May 3, 1948, will be at the unveiling ceremony today at Camp Capota. I met her in February 2011, during my journalistic assignment in Tel Aviv, and she told me, in an interview for the newspaper, that her mother and father had been held by the British in the Dekelia concentration camp since 1947, and that her parents they always told her that the Cypriots helped the Jews a lot.
"These words of theirs were instilled in me like life-serum," he remarked. "The Cypriots brought us baskets of fruit, sweets for the children, and everything else they had and we were deprived. Still, some helped Jews to escape and go to Palestine on ships sent by Israel, which was their original destination. In some cases, they dug tunnels that went out to the sea and usually a Cypriot was waiting for them on the other side to escape to the ships. You Cypriots should feel proud that you helped our people in those difficult times and this should be taught in schools. Two generations have passed since then and we have hushed up that aspect of our History, but it is time to bring it to the surface."
Zehavit Blumenfeld attended and spoke on July 9, 2014, at the unveiling of a plaque in the Peace Park in Xylotymbou, for the Cypriots who helped Jewish refugees interned in British camps. "I have no personal, childhood memories of Cyprus, my second home," he said. "However, ever since my parents talked about the camps when I was little, I felt that one day I would search for my Cypriot roots. Today, decades later, I and 2.200 other people are searching for information about the lives of parents
us in the camps and for our first steps in this world. Here on this earth, I learned the importance of helping those in need, regardless of religion, race or gender. I implement this through volunteer work and this is my own way of saying thank you to my Cypriot brothers. Thank you, Thank you very much, Toda Raba, for everything you did to make life easier in the camps, for 'illegal immigrants' and their children."
Source: website www.sigmalive.com