Who's afraid of the Holocaust survivor?
She is Hedy Epstein. She’s 87 years old. In May last year Hedy and 20 other European diplomats, members of parliament, writers and lawyers wandered like a gypsy affiliate from harbor to harbor in Cyprus in search of a place from where they could sail and join the first flotilla “Unsolicited Gaza”. Police helicopters hovered over us. They hovered over Hedy’s head too. Her parents perished in Auschwitz during WWII and she herself got saved by some miracle. I long for to believe that those policemen didn’t know anything about Hedy. I want to believe that had they known anything about her life, they wouldn’t have cruised over her conk in such a fascist manner to stop her from joining the flotilla.
Four years ago we crossed the border separating the Greek and the Turkish parts of Cyprus four times on foot. The diplomats and members of parliament phoned their prime ministers in vexation each time policemen stopped us to write down our names. Hedy was the only one who stayed absolutely calm. Up to the minute at night we reached the once-inaccessible port of Famagusta. While the rest of the team was ardently arguing with the haven authorities, Hedy lay down on a wooden bench and fell asleep with a blissful smile on her lips.
