At the age of 57, when Col. (Res.) Eli Konigsberg dons his uniform, he bears more than just the burden of command. He carries the tale of two families nearly obliterated from the European landscape.
As the world observes the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945, the deputy commander of Israel’s Jerusalem and Central District in the Home Front Command states that the past is not a thing of the past. For him, it endures in memory, in service, and in the imperative of safeguarding a Jewish state he holds as the sole place where Jews are truly safeguarded.
Konigsberg, whose photograph is blurred for security reasons, told [Digital]: “Both my parents are Holocaust survivors. My father hailed from a large Orthodox Jewish family in western Poland. Before the war, the extended family numbered some 700 individuals. After the Holocaust, only my father and two cousins survived; three out of 700.”
After surviving Auschwitz, his father joined the Betar movement and tried to reach the Land of Israel in 1946 via the ship Theodor Herzl. He was detained by British authorities, imprisoned at the Atlit camp, and exiled to Cyprus for nearly two years.
Only upon the proclamation of did he finally reach his destination.
“He enlisted, fought in the War of Independence and four subsequent wars, and served in the reserves for 55 years,” Konigsberg stated.
On his mother’s side, the losses were equally devastating. Her parents and sisters were taken from their home in eastern Poland after being betrayed by neighbors.
“They were compelled to dig their own grave under a pear tree and were shot,” he recounted.
Konigsberg said that the Holocaust was seldom openly discussed in his childhood home, yet its presence was ever-present. Now, he frets over a different kind of silence.
“Eighty years have passed since the Holocaust, and those who can say ‘I was there. I witnessed’ are fading away,” he said. “Thus, the duty of remembrance is our duty.”
That sense of responsibility molded his life. Konigsberg, a father of four daughters and a grandfather, has served in Israel’s reserve forces for over 36 years, amassing more than 3,600 days of service.
“A total of ten years of ,” he stated. In Israel, reservists are legally exempt from duty at 45. Konigsberg opted to keep going, “When they summon me, I will come at once.”
After Hamas’, he was mobilized once more.
“What we witnessed on Oct. 7 was killing for killing’s sake,” he said. “Not to seize territory or alter reality. It was hatred for hatred’s sake.”
Since then, he has led rescue and heavy engineering units operating in the Gaza Envelope, within Gaza, and in the north. His forces have conducted body identification, rescue operations, and clearance missions to eliminate terrorist hideouts.
“In the coming days, we will return to Gaza for clearing and demolition,” he stated.
Despite the trauma, he asserts that the reserve system mirrors something profound about Israeli society. “What’s remarkable about the reserves is that people can hold vastly differing political views, yet everyone still comes and functions as a unified whole,” he said.
Konigsberg pondered what he perceives history is teaching once more. “We now see that antisemitism existed and will persist in the future,” he said.
He referenced the global response to Israel since Oct. 7. “Terrible events are unfolding elsewhere. For instance, the Iranian regime’s crackdown on its own people, and you don’t see demonstrations like this, but when it concerns Israel and Jews, there’s an uproar,” he said.
For Konigsberg, remembrance is not merely about mourning the deceased. It’s about safeguarding the living. “Every Jew’s place is in Israel,” he added. “And we must always stay united and strong. We must be in our land, united and strong, and ensure that ‘never again’ truly means never again,” he said.