A survivor’s story: Part 2

Second of two parts.

Walter Schacherl’s search for his relatives after World War II, pursuing former ties and official channels, reconnected him with a cousin who survived Nazi concentration camps. He could not find any other family members amid the destruction in Europe.

After his discharge from the British Army, Schacherl, then 27, returned to Palestine, where he had lived with his older brother before the war. Hope for a Jewish homeland marked life there, but so did strife: There were spasms of violence between Arabs and Jews, and British rule was undemocratic and capricious. Despite Schacherl’s veteran status, the police one day arrested him and charged him with an infraction.

A printer by trade, he worked for years in the pressroom of the now defunct newspaper Davar, becoming the night foreman. He also resumed taking part in gymnastics, a hobby and joy that would keep him energized and fit for many decades. Through the sport he met his future wife, Ryfka, also a gymnast.

Love
The daughter of Polish Jews, Ryfka was raised in Dresden, Germany, until age 11. That year, 1933, the Nazis took power, and she, her three sisters and parents departed for Palestine. As a young teen, she began work as a seamstress to help support the family.

A pivotal moment in Ryfka's and Walter’s lives happened on New Year’s Eve in 1946. He invited her to a party at a Tel Aviv coffeehouse. They left the party together before midnight and went for a walk in a park by the beach, stopping at a bench.

“I fell asleep with my head in her lap,” Walter recalled 68 years later, sitting beside Ryfka at home in Merrick. “She let me sleep until 1 [a.m.], then said it’s time to go home.”