Gamaraal Foundation

07/10/2026

We are deeply saddened and with heavy heart we have to inform about the passing of Holocaust survivor and artist Maurice Frido at age of 100. His remarkable life was marked by loss, resilience, and creativity.

Born in Paris in 1926, Maurice lost his mother as a child and, during the N**i occupation, endured the deaths of both his older brother and his father, Bernard Friedmann, a member of the French Resistance who was executed by the occupying forces. At just 15, Maurice was left to find his own way, surviving the war in Paris and learning a trade that helped carry him through those dark years.

After the war, he chose a life devoted to art. He studied at the Académie Julian and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and became an accomplished painter, recognised for his extraordinary sensitivity to light and colour. He later made his home in Ascona, Switzerland. Maurice’s life reminds us that even after deep darkness, there can be colour, beauty and creation.

The Gamaraal Foundation mourns the passing of Frido and honours his memory. We are grateful that he gave his testimonial to the Gamaraal Foundation so we can continue teaching about the Holocaust. Our thoughts are with his family and all those who knew and loved him.

We will never forget, we will never be silent, we will always remember. Maurice will stay in our hearts forever.

May his memory be a blessing!

09/09/2026

The wonderful volunteer team of the Gamaraal Foundation created and painted by hand lovely personal greeting cards for Rosh Hashanah.

We sent them to Holocaust survivors in all parts of Switzerland.

We are grateful to have the opportunity to express our deep respect and gratitude.

From the bottom of our hearts: Shana Tova Umetukah!

09/08/2026

This week we remember a moment in history when the world was given a warning that SHOULD not be ignored.

In 1942 Dr. Gerhart M. Riegner, the World Jewish Congress representative in Geneva, Switzerland, sent an urgent telegram alerting about N**i Germany’s plan to annihilate Europe’s Jews.

The warning was clear. The danger was real. The response came too late.

Had the world listened and acted sooner, millions of Jewish lives might have been saved, hundreds of Jewish communities across Europe might have continued to flourish, and an immeasurable part of our shared cultural heritage might have been preserved.

At the Gamaraal Foundation, we honour the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust and continue to share the stories of survivors and victims to ensure that warnings from history are never forgotten.

Photo: courtesy of Gamaraal Foundation.

10/07/2026

Events like the one at the Kurtheater Baden are becoming increasingly important. The Holocaust survivors Agnes Hirschi and Joop Caneel, who are part of the Gamaraal foundation’s educational projects, spoke to school students about their experiences during the Second World War.

Thank you Badener Tagblatt for writing about Holocaust remembrance, eyewitness testimony, education, humanity, and the importance of transmitting survivors’ experiences to younger generations.

Die Zahl der Holocaust-Überlebenden nimmt ab. Umso wichtiger werden Begegnungen wie jene im Kurtheater Baden, wo Agnes Hirschi und Joop Caneel Schülerinnen und Schülern von ihren Erlebnissen während des Zweiten Weltkriegs berichten.

03/07/2026

This week we mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of Elie, Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, author, and one of humanity's most enduring moral voices.

Elie Wiesel dedicated his life to ensuring that the world would never forget the horrors of the Holocaust and to reminding us that memory carries responsibility. His words challenged indifference, inspired compassion, and called each generation to defend human dignity wherever it is threatened.

Eli Wiesel said so wisely:
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference."

At the Gamaraal Foundation, we honor his extraordinary and impressive legacy by reaffirming our commitment to education, remembrance, dialogue, and the defense of human rights. Hatred, antisemitism and intolerance unfortunately continues to challenge our societies. Wiesel's messages remains urgent and relevant.

20/04/2026

This week Gamaraal Foundation and the whole world commemorates the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on 15 April 1945 — a moment that ended unimaginable suffering, but could never undo the lives lost and the trauma endured. At liberation, around 60,000 prisoners were found in the camp, with starvation, disease, and mass death all around them. We remember with deepest respect the victims. We honor with deepest respect the survivors. And we renew our responsibility to speak, to teach, and to stand against antisemitism, hatred, and indifference in every form.

Holocaust survivor Prof. Ladislaus Löb, who was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen as a child, reflected: “If ‘luck’ is a relative concept I can call myself lucky. I lost the majority of my family in the Holocaust. I spent five months in Bergen-Belsen as a child of 11, but I was spared Auschwitz…”

He also recalled the meaning of survival and release: “We had almost forgotten what friendly soldiers, a hot meal and a comfortable matress are like.”

As we commemorate Bergen-Belsen, we do more than look back. We carry memory forward. We affirm the dignity of every human life. And we say clearly from the bottom of our hearts: remembrance must lead to action.

14/04/2026

Today is Yom HaShoah and we remember the millions of victims of the Holocaust during World War II. We honor with deep respect their memory, we are mourning the unimaginable atrocities they endured, but we also carrying their stories forward, so that it will never happen again.
Never.
Today, we share the heartbreaking testimony of our beloved Holocaust survivor Klaus Appel, who left us shortly after giving us his testimony: “We were at home when the doorbell rang. ‘Are you Mr. Appel? Then come with us.’ My father turned to me and said: ‘You go to school.’ Those were the last words he spoke to me. I never saw him again.”

Klaus Appel was born in Berlin in 1925. After his father was arrested, Klaus and his sister Ruth escaped on one of the last Kindertransports to England. Their older brother, Willy-Wolf, just 20 years old, was arrested and later murdered in Auschwitz, along with their father.

Our dear friend and mentor Klaus Appel passed away in 2017, but his voice, his courage, and his story live on forever. His testimony remains a deeply important part of the Gamaraal Foundation’s exhibition, The Last Swiss Holocaust Survivors. We will always preserve his memory for future generations in order to remember and never to forget, never to be silent, never to hate, never to be indifferent, never..

01/04/2026

❤️Chag Pessach Sameach from the Gamaraal Foundation! ❤️

We celebrate Pesach, the holiday of freedom and renewal.

The team of Gamaraal foundation wishes you all from the bottom of our hearts a happy and meaningful Pesach. May this Passover be an inspiration for peace, unity, and reflection and embrace the values of freedom and hope.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and blessed holiday filled with love, joy, and the warmth of the tradition. ❤️

20/03/2026

"In 1940 my family was surprised by the Blitzkrieg. After the German Invasion of the Netherlands, at the beginning, Jews were allowed to continue to pursue certain professions and were not put in Ghettos. However, they had to wear the “Judenstern” and unfortunately sadly there were arrests and deportations every day to the concentration camps", said Joop Caneel, a Holocaust survivor in front of the students in a school nearby Zürich, organized by the Gamaraal Foundation.

Joop Caneel is one of "Тhe last Swiss Holocaust survivors".

06/03/2026

International Women’s Day reminds us to honor women whose courage has shaped memory, justice, and humanity. On 8th March we will pay tribute to the late Holocaust survivor Catherine Ruebner, she gave her testimony to the Gamaraal foundation just shortly before her death.

“The daily roll calls, the exhaustion, the rubella epidemic and pneumonia – my older sister Eva died in Bergen-Belsen. Her death is my trauma – to this day. Eva always wanted to be a psychologist. I became a psychologist”, said Catherine Ruebner

Her testimony is more than a personal story — it is a powerful act of remembrance, resilience, and responsibility. By sharing her experiences of exclusion, persecution, and survival, Catherine helped younger generations understand the human reality behind history and strengthens the fight against antisemitism, hatred, and indifference.

The Gamaraal Foundation is committed to preserving the voices of Holocaust survivors and is engaged in Holocaust education, ensuring that testimonies like Catherine’s continue to inspire empathy, awareness, and action. On this International Women’s Day, we celebrate the late Catherine Ruebner and all women whose strength turns memory into moral courage for the future.