A little over two years ago Sigal Shmuely of Sea Cliff was visiting her 82-year-old father, Mordechai Carmeli, in Israel when he surprised her with a gift: a folded, hand-sewn Israeli flag that was tucked away in a small drawer in his Haifa home for four decades. Carmeli, who survived the Holocaust and a treacherous trip across Europe, later sailed with the flag to Israel when he left a Displaced Persons camp where it had been stitched.
The flag recently made one last journey to Long Island where it is now prominently displayed behind glass at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County in Glen Cove. Carmeli, formerly known as Marku Weingarten, was honored at the museum Friday on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom HaShoah, in a ceremony that included the lighting of seven candles to remember the 6 million Jews killed in the genocide during World War II.
Saturday commemorates “one of the most solemn days in the Jewish calendar,” said Howard Maier, chairman of the center’s board.
Shmuely retold her father’s journey as Maier, her two sons, Dean and Eric, and other Holocaust survivors and their families listened intently.
Listen to Carmeli’s entire story, as told by his daughter:
Holocaust survivor honored on Long Island by Rashed Mian
Carmeli, born in Romania in 1929, “had quite a nice life until the Germans came in” when he was 10 years old, said Shmuely as she spoke for her father, who is fluent in German, Romanian, Yiddish and Hebrew, but doesn’t speak English.
She said his journey began when he was thrown out of school for being Jewish, and his father was taken from his family and forced to work 3 1/2 years in a German camp.
“Being only 10 he had to fend for the family because he was the only boy,” she said while her father listened on.
About two years later, the Russians moved into Romania, she said, and his town was turned into a battlefield. Carmeli used his resourcefulness to make some money by selling nuts by a busy train station. With that money, he and 11 other teenagers left Romania for Israel.
“You know everything I’m telling you here is horrible, but I see rays of sunshine in them because he would not be here without the help of those who helped,” Shmuely said as her voice grew louder.
The group crossed the border illegally into Hungary where the Israeli Birgade helped them cross the border of Austria. He finally made it to a Displaced Persons camp in Germany at a hotel where Adolf Hitler was once a guest.
As one of the oldest boys in the camp, Carmeli was chosen to be counselor of the camp where 40 girls created the flag that is now on display at the museum.
“This is where it should be,” said Shmuely. “It shouldn’t be shoved in a drawer when nobody can really get to see it, and we felt that it’s not our flag, it basically represents something bigger than that, and that would probably be the wish of those girls.”
Maier said the flag has become a symbol of perseverance.
“To take that spirit and create the flag that the girls put together with their own hands in a Displaced Persons camp, just shows the true spirit of survival and the spirit of conquering evil,” he said. “The positive aspect when I look at the work he did and I look at his daughter and his grandchildren…not only did he survive, but he enabled future generations to survive.”
Carmeli’s family later huddled in front of the flag at its new home to reflect on the meaning.
“It shows me the strength and determination that one person can have,” said his 18-year-old grandson, Dean. “I think that this shows no matter what kind of situation you’re in, or who you are, or where you’re from, you can always be somebody, you can always do something great. ”
Afterward, Carmeli pointed at the flag and said through a translator he “felt love.”