Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, was commemorated on Monday, April 16, 2007. AMCHA, which brings psychosocial support to Holocaust survivors and their families in Israel, was busier than usual. As on every Yom HaShoah for the past 20 years, the organization offered telephone hotlines, commemoration ceremonies, intergenerational meetings, screenings of Holocaust films with discussions, and open houses for the general public.
AMCHA is a member of the Israel Trauma Coalition and is supported by UJA-Federation of New York. The organization was founded in 1987, at a time when many people in Israel felt it was better to not open doors to long-buried painful memories. Despite this, founder Manfred Klafter and his associates persevered.
As new services were announced by word of mouth, Holocaust survivors gradually began to use AMCHA's assistance, one person at a time. Often life experiences or deteriorating health would bring terrifying nightmares and flashbacks to aging survivors who had tried to suppress painful memories. Center after center was created in most major cities in Israel. Almost invisibly, AMCHA was building a critical support network for suffering survivors.
"The staff of AMCHA was committed to providing survivors with a listening ear and a place to feel understood on a very deep, human level," said Managing Director Natan Kellerman. "At every stage, the clients themselves led the way by suggesting what they needed and how to implement it in the best possible fashion."
Clients came to tell their tragic life stories and to record them on video. Many continued with individual or family therapy or by joining one of AMCHA's clubs for social activity. Those who could not come to AMCHA branches were visited in their homes by volunteers or by professional caseworkers. Others were involved in intergenerational programs in the community. AMCHA succeeded in building long-term relationships, enabling the clients to feel acknowledged, and — over two decades — has achieved long-term results.
Kellerman said that through therapy many clients have been helped to gain some kind of individual control over their inner lives. Many have been able to alleviate some of the most intense symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Others have been able to transform some of their vulnerabilities into resilience and increase their daily functioning. Still others have focused on the long process of becoming a "survivor," able to succeed despite everything, instead of remaining a "victim."
Two clients of AMCHA shared what the organization has meant for them. Ella said, "Since my husband died, I did not want to live anymore; I had nobody to talk to and nowhere to go. Then I came to AMCHA, and now I feel a wish to get up in the morning. I feel full of inspiration."
Joseph said, "I had never told anyone about my tragic childhood. But after my retirement, the memories suddenly returned with force, and I started to cry without understanding why. The doctor said that I was depressed and referred me to AMCHA. I immediately understood that I was crying about my lost childhood. I have only now — after more than 60 years — started to share that distant past with others. It is extremely important for me, and it is such a relief."
Today, more than 200 staff members and 600 volunteers serve almost 10,000 people in 11 centers and provide groups in more than 20 other locations all over Israel. On any day, more than 1,000 people visit or are visited by AMCHA. At the end of 2006, the total annual number of work hours of all personnel reached 174,214.
In addition to support given through the ITC for trauma related work, over the past years, UJA-Federation has provided generous support to enable AMCHA's professional staff to visit thousands of homebound survivors all over Israel, as well as reaching out to caregivers — including family members of the aging survivors, professionals, and paraprofessionals — as they care for survivors facing end of life.
Learn how AMCHA helped Holocaust survivors cope with the July 2006 rocket attack in Haifa.
dateline: April 2007
