Child prodigy’s survival story evokes miracles and memories

Ralene Brasg, the daughter of Celia Boruchowitz, a violinist child prodigy who survived the Holocaust, was the keynote speaker at the Women’s International Zionist Organisation (WIZO) Yom Hashoah event on 29 April 2025, hosted with the Union of Jewish Women.

Brasg, who heard the story directly from her mother, described herself as “the witness of the witness”, and said she had a responsibility to tell the story.

She spoke poignantly about her mother, who originated in Riga, Latvia, surviving the Holocaust by experiencing seven miracles throughout her time in Nazi Europe. Four years after the war, Boruchowitz went to Italy and got married in the main synagogue in Rome. She was given a violin rescued from the Nazis to play. Later, she came to live in South Africa, and played in many orchestras.

In the emotionally moving morning ceremony, six candles were lit in honour of the six million Jews, and a seventh on a table with the Israeli flag was lit in memory of the victims of 7 October 2023 and the fallen soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.

Holocaust survivor Irene Klass and her daughter, Michelle, were in the audience, and Klass lit a memorial candle. Chazan Josh Marcus sang El Malei Rachamin and Psalm 121 for the hostages. The event concluded with Hatikvah.