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Rachel Katz lit one of six torches at the State Opening Ceremony of Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem in 2025.
Rachel Katz
Rachel Katz
Rachel Katz née Laufman was born in 1937 in Antwerp, Belgium, to an immigrant family, the second of four children. Her parents, Feyge-Tzipora and Benjamin, had emigrated from Bukovina, Romania. Feyge was a seamstress, and Benjamin earned a living as a merchant and glazier.
The Germans occupied Belgium in May 1940. In June 1942, Benjamin was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp in France. From there, he was transferred to the Mechelen transit camp in Belgium and then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was murdered in November 1942.
Feyge was left to ensure the survival and welfare of her four small children, the eldest of whom was just seven years old. They moved from one hiding place to another, and Maria Lubben, a neighbor in one such hiding place, obtained forged papers for them and helped them with shopping for essentials, as they were frightened to leave their apartment. When the German manhunts intensified, Lubben moved Rachel and her siblings to her own home, and later, she found a hiding place for Rachel and two of her siblings in a convent near Antwerp. Lubben was eventually recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.
After several months, Rachel and her siblings were removed from the convent due to the impending threat of a Gestapo raid. They returned to Antwerp and lived in hiding with their mother under assumed identities with the assistance of the Belgian underground, until Belgium was liberated in September 1944.
After the war, Rachel attended the Tachkemoni school, also working to help support her family. She immigrated to Israel in 1957, got married and began raising a family.
In 2000, Rachel joined the YESH Holocaust Children Survivors in Israel association. She quickly became very active and was given responsibility over branches throughout Israel. Today, she serves as the association’s chairperson. She is also active in the Amcha association, which offers psychological and social support services to Holocaust survivors and their families. For many years, she traveled from her home in Ramat Gan to take care of Holocaust survivors at the Sha’ar Menashe Hospital, where she gave them emotional and material support, and advocated for them.
Rachel also maintained close contact with survivors outside of her work with YESH and Amcha, and thanks to the connections she made with philanthropists, she was able to collect donations on their behalf. She went to the press and approached local authorities and public figures, including Members of Knesset, in her battle to improve their welfare.
Rachel helped many survivors to clarify and access their legal rights, including allowances, discounts on services and special benefits. She advocates for Holocaust survivors from North Africa and is active in the endeavor to increase their benefits. She is dedicated to the cause of improving the circumstances of Holocaust survivors and is personally involved in their welfare on a daily basis.
Rachel and Shmuel have two children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.