Polish born Holocaust survivor Halina Birenbaum leaving after delivering a speech in front of survivors and personalities at a tent erected in front of the entrance of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland. January 27, 2015 in (Odd Anderson/AFP via Getty Images)
WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – A Polish-Israeli poet and writer, Halina Birenbaum, was honored by the city of Warsaw with the Medal of Merit, the city’s highest honor.
Birenbaum, a Holocaust survivor, was awarded with the medal for “documenting and commemorating the history of the Warsaw Ghetto, where Halina Birenbaum was imprisoned with her family,” according to the award.
“I was born in Warsaw. Here I am better known than in Israel,” she said during Tuesday’s ceremony.
“The Polish capital can be proud of this citizen,” Jacek Mlynarski, the chairman of the Second Generation Association, said in an interview with Polish Radio. The association nominated Birenbaum for the medal.
Birenbaum was born in Warsaw in 1929. During World War II, she was imprisoned in Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ravensbruck and Neustadt-Glewe. In 1947, she immigrated to Israel. She is the author of several books, including “Hope Dies Last,” “Return to the Land of the Forefathers,” and “Call of Memory.”
