Bondi Beach massacre: Holocaust survivor (†87) saved wife

Sydney – Alex Kleytman (87) and Larissa had been married for 57 years when a terrorist took everything from them in just one second. Alex died trying to protect his true love from the assassins’ shots.

The man died from his serious injuries on Sydney’s Bondi Beach – he is one of 15 people who have died so far Terror-assassination. The retired civil engineer had already endured much greater horrors: he is a survivor Holocaust.

Alex fought for survival in Siberia

In the magazine Jewish The couple told their story to the charity “Jewish Care” three years ago – years that were marked by Nazi-Terror, of persecution, but also of infinite love.

“As children, Larissa and Alexander experienced the indescribable horror of the Holocaust. Alex’s memories are particularly harrowing: he remembers the terrible conditions in Siberia, where he struggled to survive alongside his mother and younger brother. However, the scars of the past did not stop them from looking for a better future. They later emigrated from Ukraine to Australia,” the report says.

Husband stood protectively in front of wife

He escaped the greatest genocide in history, built a new life in a Sydney suburb, raised a family, and watched his children and grandchildren grow up. But on Sunday, at the age of 87, he was killed in the terror attack in Sydney – while protecting his wife Larissa with his body from the attacker’s bullets.

“I don’t have a husband anymore. I don’t know where his body is. Nobody can give me an answer,” the local newspaper “Sydney Morning Herald” quoted the distraught widow outside St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. In addition to his wife, Alex Kleytman leaves behind two children and eleven grandchildren.

Victims between ten and 87 years old

The couple had attended the Hanukkah celebration “Hanukkah by the Sea” on the famous Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, an annual event of the Jewish Chabad movement. What began as a joyous celebration of light ended in tragedy of unimaginable proportions.

A 50-year-old gunman and his 24-year-old son opened fire on the crowd – killing 15 people before the father himself was shot. 38 other people are still receiving medical treatment. Two victims succumbed to their injuries in Sidney hospitals early Monday morning.

“Victims range in age from 10 to 87,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said on Monday. Among the dead are people from different backgrounds who all had one thing in common: they wanted to celebrate a Jewish festival on the beach.

Rabbis among the dead

Particularly tragic is the death of 41-year-old Eli Snaker, an assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi. The British-born father of five, the youngest a baby, was one of the organizers of the event.

Just last year, he showed in a video how he danced with joy and defiance during Hanukkah – in response to the growing Anti-Semitism. “How can a joyful rabbi who went to a beach to spread joy and light lose his life in this way?” the Jewish News quotes his stunned cousin, Rabbi Zalman Lewis.

The young Frenchman Dan Elkayam, in his late 20s, also lost his life. The IT analyst had lived in Australia for several years and was a popular member of his soccer club in Rockdale. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences.

Young girl died in hospital

The youngest victim was ten-year-old Matilda, who died from her gunshot wounds in the hospital. Other victims include Jewish businessman Reuven Morrison and former police officer and photographer Peter Meagher (60), who was probably on the beach on a professional assignment.

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, Eli Schnurr’s father-in-law, called on the Jewish community in a moving speech not to lose hope: “Many people want to bring us down, destroy us, discourage us.” But that was not what the deceased wanted. “We have to get up now. They’re watching us.”