האחיות - The sisters

The sisters "We are going by foot hopa hey, hopa hey" "We are going by foot, hopa hey!" "There is no code and flag hopa, hopa, hopa hey" "We are going by foot hopa hey!" We have been "running" on this promenade for thirty years "Until, till the Snow Mountains" We walk it takes as 45 minutes We are retired, we can arrange our lives as we like Look at the sea... Even though we don't look alike people thought we were twins People always stop and ask us: Are you twins? When we went to buy a swimsuit, any swimsuit she liked I liked too If people think we are twins, why shouldn't we wear the same clothes too? We have to invent new things for us every time This little bottle over here... We connect it to the tap and like that we wash ourselves. Why don't you use the regular shower? I don't want to ruin my hairdo. hairdo! On the way back it feels like a new person, like you can fly And in the winter it's even better In the winter you also enter to the water? Definitely! Bring your hands and feet together... Point your feet... And open your legs Arms stretched. Lift one leg sideways without moving your back ...and back in flex We felt that exercising makes our lives much better and more pleasant And we feel much better When I wake up everything aches, and I start to exercise... We are used to waking up early in the morning, we're already in the kitchen at 4:30 A.M What do you actually cook? Buckwheat, Couscous, Champignons and Squashes I sewed all of those dresses myself. ...from towels What are you sowing? This one had pockets in it and I'm sowing the holes Miriam and Helena are holocaust survivors [With their mother and brother in Munkatsch Czechoslovakia] [The bricks factory in Munkatsch - where city's Jews were concentrated] Miriam was in an underground organization during the war. She hid with a group of young Jews in Budapest They were impersonating as Christians. During an explosion her boyfriend and her sister were killed [Miriam and friends] ...and I got injured I arrived to the hospital. I was unconscious, and I didn't know that my sister passed away. Young Helena arrived to Auschwitz with her mother, older sister and two of her younger brothers [Auschwitz] My sister and I went right and my mother with the children went left In the camps Helena contracted Tuberculosis and thanks to her best friend she survived the "Death March" After the war Helena and her older sister returned to Czech Republic [The friend, Bracha Glentzman] And then we started thinking: how will we get home? [Munkatch] I was already at home, and we (the survives) came everyday to the train station. And, No one came! Until one day we suddenly saw them, in the middle of the way All of my friends and the two sisters And That was it! I couldn't utter a word. We just burst in to tears, and that's all. Her eyes were so sad, that I couldn't even look at her... All the Jewish tragedy was in her eyes [Helena at the Sanatorium] I had to get a treatment and I was left alone. She left later on and I was left alone once again. She stayed in Czech Republic for twenty years and I went to Israel She got married and her children were born here [Miriam, her daughter and grand daughter] My children weren't born here, they were born in Czech Republic [Helena and the children] We always promised ourselves never to speak about the war and about what happened in Germany No matter how hard try, we always retrain to topic It controls us. It's inside of us and it always needed to come out. [Shoshik Shani] All of my childhood I heard Hitler, Goebbels and Goering, shouting from the radio. He shouted in such horrible way that it was impossible to understand him I don't understand! Even the Germans didn't understand him Have you heard about Magda Goebbels? Sure! She had seven children. They all committed suicide. She said that she had them for Hitler There weren't any lifeguards until now It's hard to swim out to the shore because of the current The current washed away Helena to the rocks So I had to call someone to help her You allow your sister to enter the water by herself? She doesn't listen to me! One time she entered the water when no one dared to Only surfers would dare go in And she entered anyway. It was very dangerous When she came out from the water she said "you see, nothing happened to me..." We are so happy that we are healthy and we continue to live much more than what "they" planned for us What are your next plans? Instead of going to a retirement home we said: "no! We'll buy an apartment " Our friends said: "are you mad? You want to buy an apartment at your age?" You need a retirement home. But in the meantime we don't! We've been living here for 10 years Recently we even bought fridge, freezer and a washing machine The sales person asked us: for who is all this? for us! what do you mean? Then one of the salesperson asked me: "how old are you?" And I answered: 90 years old! Are you buying at this age? We hope we will reach the age 120 and still be in a good health And that will be our revenge We plan to live many more years "We are from the grey copper mountain" "We are going until, till the snow mountain" "And we are already come, and we are here!" "With these two feet" Participants: Miriam Cherbiner Helena Kolt Production, Script and Direction: Shosh Itzchaki Cohen Filming, Voiceover and Editing: Shosh Itzchaki Cohen Music Hopa Hey Lyrics, Melody and Singing: Neomi Shemer Archive Photos: Private Photos Yad Vashem Participant guest: Shoshik Shani Translation Rotem Moses Israel Rubinstein Subtitles: Adi Drori Thanks: Community TV Tel Aviv