The Survivor Mitzvah Project

The Survivor Mitzvah Project Nonprofit providing food and medicine to Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe This one-hour television special is hosted by CNN HERO Zane Buzby.

Produced by The Survivor Mitzvah Project and up for Emmy® Consideration, THE LAST SURVIVORS – ECHOES FROM THE HOLOCAUST is the inspiring and compelling story of the last Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe and the heroic efforts to bring lifesaving aid to these forgotten heroes. They fought as Partisans in the forests, survived concentration camps, the brutal massacres of their families, and wer

e silenced for decades. Now, an award-winning cast, Edward Asner, Elliott Gould, Frances Fisher, Valerie Harper, Lainie Kazan, and Alan Rosenberg, gives voice to the survivors’ stories of loss and perseverance in powerful and moving performances. The program illuminates the work of The Survivor Mitzvah Project, which brings emergency aid to 2000 survivors in 8 countries, and is dedicated to creating a more hopeful final chapter to the Holocaust, one of friendship, kindness and compassion. TIME IS RUNNING OUT for elderly Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe. Having lost everything during the war, they still struggle to survive in need of emergency aid for food, medicine, heat and shelter. Help save a life. DONATE to a survivor TODAY. You can also text to donate! Text the word GIVING to 41444.

On Holocaust Survivor Day, we honor those who rebuilt their lives from the ruins of everything they had lost. Their fami...
06/04/2026

On Holocaust Survivor Day, we honor those who rebuilt their lives from the ruins of everything they had lost. Their families were gone. Their homes were gone. Childhoods, education, safety, and certainty had been stolen. And still, they kept going.

"I am proud of my chosen path and my destiny, and I would not trade it for anything else!" - Holocaust survivor Yuri Veniaminovich K. (pictured here).

"Freedom came, and we finally started first grade at the age of 11… I remember sharing one coat and one pair of boots with my brother because we had nothing else to wear to school in the autumn. For a year, we wore wooden clogs instead of real boots. We were dressed in rugs and clothes passed down from adults. We had no notebooks or school supplies. We wrote on newspapers and old books, each of us managing as best we could. But we studied hard, with great determination and commitment." – Holocaust Survivor Abram Davidovich K.

“In 1945 I decided to enter a technical school. But I had only four years of education. To get accepted, I needed to graduate from the seventh grade. I entered an evening school, and within six months I studied subjects learned in the 5th, 6th and 7th grades. After finishing, I entered a technical school in 1946." –Yuri Veniaminovich K.

Today, on Holocaust Survivor Day, we honor not only what survivors endured, but how they continued to live, learn, work, love, and rebuild. The last remaining Holocaust survivors are now elderly, ill, and often alone. After a lifetime of resilience, many are struggling once again. They rebuilt their lives after unimaginable loss. Now, we can help bring comfort, dignity, and care to their final years. Donate now at www.survivormitzvah.org.

On the eve of Holocaust Survivor Day, we honor Holocaust Survivor Fanya Isaakovna, who was only a child during the Holoc...
06/04/2026

On the eve of Holocaust Survivor Day, we honor Holocaust Survivor Fanya Isaakovna, who was only a child during the Holocaust, but whose memories have lasted a lifetime.

“I come from a large family of seven. During the War we survived hunger, cold, and fear of being shot simply for being Jewish. I can never forget, even though so many years have passed.

When the N***s showed up, we hid in barns, and in stacks of straw in the empty village of Kugulny. There was nowhere to run. There were only the surrounding empty steppes.

I feel most sorry for our mother. After the war we, the children, went to school, worked, and managed our difficulties. But our mother, until the last days of her life, would not eat a piece of bread before cutting it into seven pieces.”

In recognition of the kindness and compassion of our supporters, Holocaust Survivor Fanya Isaakovna of Ukraine made these dolls for all of you. “This doll has such a big, kind and warm heart, it does not fit into her chest, so she holds it in her hands. All parts of this doll are attached to each other with special knots. Each contains wishes for good health and deep gratitude for your commitment and compassion.”

Fanya’s handmade dolls are quiet witnesses to survival, memory, and the compassionate connections that continue to bind us to the Holocaust’s forgotten heroes.

As Fanya writes, we are all attached to each other with “special knots” of compassion and humanity. Ahead of Holocaust Survivor Day, may we honor those knots by standing and helping the survivors who are still here. Donate now at www.survivormitzvah.org.

“When the war began, I was a six-year-old child, three years older than my little sister, Maya. As soon as the war began...
05/29/2026

“When the war began, I was a six-year-old child, three years older than my little sister, Maya. As soon as the war began, Father joined the Red Army. I perfectly remember the moment when the war began, because German pilots often flew trying to bomb the plant’s roof. Metal was produced there, which was a very important commodity for manufacturing arms. Since our house was less than 40 meters [130 feet] from the plant, the enemy’s bombs landed in our yard, too. Thank God we all survived.

Before the war, Father was a railway station controller. To our deepest regret, he perished during the war. Mother requested assistance from the railway station manager, and he helped our three-person family board a train and leave for Omsk where my mother’s brother and family lived. Omsk was located in Western Siberia, and it took us four days to arrive there.

The two oldest sons in the family of our Omsk relatives were drafted into the Red Army. They also perished. Their youngest brother, who was not drafted due to this age, was the only survivor.

When I turned eight, I began attending the first grade at School №37, which was near our house. Mother was a kindergarten teacher both in Dnepropetrovsk [now Dnipro] and Omsk. I went to school there for three years until 1945. That year [1945] Mother decided to move to Cherkasy, after deliberating with her sister, Tatiana, who had moved there with her family after the war. She, my sister and I settled down at 23 Raskopnaya St., where Tatiana and her two children lived. I began attending School №2, where I studied from the third through tenth grade. I finished it in 1953.” – Holocaust Ilya B. recalls his experiences of World War 2.

05/27/2026

This Jewish American Heritage Month, we celebrate CNN Hero and The Survivor Mitzvah Project Founder Zane Buzby, who’s work reflects the power of compassion, memory, and action.

Zane has directed over 200 episodes of network television including such hit comedies as Golden Girls, Newhart, and Married...with Children. She has produced and directed TV series for CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO, FOX, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, Disney, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures

Zane Buzby began her professional career as a classically trained actor in New York. Discovered by Carl Reiner, she was cast in Oh God, and shortly thereafter in the cult comedy classic Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke. Buzby co-starred opposite Jerry Lewis in Cracking Up, and appeared in Rob Reiner's hit comedy, This Is Spinal Tap. Prior to her acting career, she worked at the Beatles’ Apple Films as an assistant film editor working with George Harrison and Bob Dylan on the feature, The Concert for Bangladesh.

Zane Buzby’s life took a dramatic turn during a "roots" trip that she made to Eastern Europe. Along the back roads of Lithuania and Belarus, she connected with elderly Holocaust survivors who were ill and alone, living in poverty. Expanding the search for other survivors in dire need, these initial aid efforts served as the catalyst for the creation of "The Survivor Mitzvah Project", a 501(c)3 nonprofit which now aids over 2600 Holocaust survivors in 9 countries.

Zane has also created The Survivor Mitzvah Project’s Holocaust Educational Archive - a unique archive of Holocaust testimonies, with 500+ hours of video footage shot on location during SMP’s humanitarian expeditions in Eastern Europe. This archive has been presented all across the nation, including special partnerships with celebrity readers at The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and features in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“The real triumph for me is the discovery that one can dramatically change a person’s life with a simple act of kindness.” – SMP Founder Zane Buzby.

At just 18 years old, Holocaust Survivor Tzal G. was conscripted to fight at the Front. He served through unimaginable d...
05/25/2026

At just 18 years old, Holocaust Survivor Tzal G. was conscripted to fight at the Front. He served through unimaginable danger, wounded with shrapnel in the head, leg, and arm and later wounded again in Stalingrad with a bullet lodged in his left hip, which was never removed. By 19, he was permanently disabled. Yet he survived, returned home, and built a life of his own.

“Ukraine went through a very difficult time of German occupation and a terrible war: destruction, starvation, and cold.

More importantly, people were evacuated from the cities, leaving everything behind and going to random places. You can imagine how my wife, with her parents, was evacuated to the Ural Mountains. She was only 17 years old, and she worked in a factory there as a milling-machine operator. She was short and was given a box so she could reach the machine. Her parents worked there as well for three years.

My parents also suffered greatly. My sister lost her husband. He was a political instructor and died by Harkov. My second sister’s husband came back wounded and did not live for long. So, of all of our families, only my wife and I remain.

When the war started, I had just turned 18 years old. I was conscripted on the second day of the war. This is how I ended up in the infantry college, but that did not happen right away. At first, I drove a motorcycle and was wounded, and then I ended up in the Zhitomir Infantry College for officers. I did not finish because it was a very difficult time on the battlefront, and we were sent to the hot “cauldron” of Stalingrad.

I was very seriously wounded there and ended up on German-occupied territory, from which I had to crawl for 10–12 kilometers at night. Then I was picked up by our men and ended up in the hospital, where I stayed for a whole year in Siberia, where I was evacuated with many other wounded soldiers. So I became handicapped at 19 years old.

The war ended, and I returned to my homeland, the city of Tarashcha, in the region of Kiev, where I worked as a team leader in a watch shop. This is where I got married and where I have now retired.” – Holocaust Survivor and veteran Tzal G.

Tzal G. pictured with his wife, Dora.

“We celebrated Shavuot very well and very beautifully. There was a lot of fun and flowers. There were pancakes with cott...
05/23/2026

“We celebrated Shavuot very well and very beautifully. There was a lot of fun and flowers. There were pancakes with cottage cheese and varnichkes [bow-tie noodles] with cottage cheese. It all reminded us of our childhood when our mother cooked. So, this is all about us.” A Shavuot letter from Holocaust Survivor Zina L.

Shavuot is a Jewish holiday that marks the arrival of the summer season and the giving of the Torah. It is traditionally...
05/21/2026

Shavuot is a Jewish holiday that marks the arrival of the summer season and the giving of the Torah. It is traditionally celebrated by decorating homes with fresh greenery and enjoying dairy foods. On Shavuot, Holocaust Survivor Vera K. prepares for the holiday despite constant pain in her legs.

“I do everything while sitting down. My legs ache, but for all the holidays I prepare special dishes to serve at the synagogue. For Shavuot I made delkale with cottage cheese, sponge cake, and apple pie, served with wine that Movzesh and I make ourselves. I also made sandwiches with cheese and eggs.

The first day of Shavuot, he observed the memorial for his relatives and those who died in the concentration camp. His village decided that they would observe yahrtzeit [anniversary of the date of death] on the first day, and the people from the other villages would observe it on the second day, since they don’t know exactly when people died in the camps.”

Alongside the holiday meal and dairy dishes traditionally enjoyed on Shavuot, Vera and her husband also carry forward remembrance. Their table is filled not only with food, but with resilience, memory, and the enduring strength of tradition.

“The very moment the war began, we lived in Mogilev. Mother told us that at the beginning of the war, in June 1941, she ...
05/18/2026

“The very moment the war began, we lived in Mogilev. Mother told us that at the beginning of the war, in June 1941, she grabbed the three of us brothers and ran to the train station, where she managed to get us on a train that took us to the place of evacuation. She had no time to gather food or clothes to bring with us. The journey was long. Whenever our train was bombed, we stopped, and everyone ran, scattering in all directions. Those who survived the bombings continued on the journey. During stops, my mother ran to find food and water. That ride continued for more than two weeks. Finally, we reached Tashkent, where we were put up in a dormitory. In order to feed us, my mother went to work while we were left in the care of our oldest brother who was then 7. We were starving; we would search in dumpsters for food and often got sick afterwards. We were always hungry. After Mogilev was liberated, we returned home. Everything there was destroyed, and we had to start [our lives] from scratch.” – Holocaust Survivor Girsha G. recalls his experiences of World War 2.

“Our evacuation was very dangerous. We left Krivoy Rog [now Kryvyi Rih] when the Germans were already in the city. It wa...
05/10/2026

“Our evacuation was very dangerous. We left Krivoy Rog [now Kryvyi Rih] when the Germans were already in the city. It was the last departing train. The train was bombed, but we miraculously survived because our train car got detached. It was a long journey. We had to move from place to place several times—first to the city of Ulyanovsk, then the Northern Caucuses, and finally the railway station in Klyavlino, in the Kuybyshev Oblast [currently Samara Oblast.]

Mother had to work hard to feed me as well as her elderly parents, who were seriously ill. Father was drafted to the military, but was quickly discharged due to health reasons. There was no treatment for him and no way to obtain nutritious food. In 1942 Father passed away. Our house in Krivoy Rog was destroyed.

When Cherkasy was liberated, we came to live with Father’s relatives. They had also returned to their native town and helped us find a temporary shelter. Mother was, again, the only one from the entire family who was able to work. Now it is hard to imagine the load our mothers carried on their shoulders.” –A Mother’s Day quote from Holocaust Survivor Ilya B.
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Holocaust Survivor Ilya B. pictured with his wife Tamila S.

Today is Victory in Europe Day. Founder Zane Buzby shares a letter from her father, written during WWII when he was a 19...
05/08/2026

Today is Victory in Europe Day. Founder Zane Buzby shares a letter from her father, written during WWII when he was a 19-year-old Air Force pilot. He was writing to his newborn niece Arleen, whom he had not yet met and wouldn’t meet until the War ended.

“Thursday, October 28, 1943

Dearest Arleen:
You are so tiny and I know you cannot read this, but as the years pass you will grow to be a wonderful young lady and then you will read this and think back to the world as I see it.

When that day comes the world and its peoples will have lived through many peaceful years. I know the people will not appreciate peace, somehow they never do. The Earth does not appreciate, nor does it forget. But, Arleen, I want you to know and to appreciate! When you read this there will no bloodshed; no tears – except those of happiness. They are small droplets of happiness and when they roll from the cheek and fall you will hear the laughing voices of children, the wind in the trees, and the crescendo of a thousand joys.

I want you to know that the peace you are living in was paid for—so very dearly. If you should ever run in a field of yellow wildflowers think of this: As many flowers you see there were many times that many men who wanted to be happy and breathe the air of a free world. Men had to give their loves—their very lives, for in each grave there lies not only a man but the heart and life of some woman.

Was my generation fortunate or unfortunate? Someday I will know. We were born just in time to see the peace I speak of leave the earth. Ever since I can remember there has been a shadow on our lives -- that constant propelling force to make someone fight and balance our lives again. Because of this we had to learn to grow up ahead of our years. We had to learn to put aside our loves. We had to learn to fight.

I know what your tiny fingers feel like because I have held a fluffy tiny kitten in my hands.

I know the color of your cheeks because I have smelled the delicate pink of roses.

I know you Arleen.

Arleen, some would say that you are the product of human union but I know differently. Only God could have made you.” – Herman G., father of SMP Founder Zane Buzby.

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