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When Col. (Res.) Eli Konigsberg wearing his uniform at 57 years old, carries more than the weight of command. He tells the story of two families that were almost wiped off the map of Europe.
As the world commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945, the deputy commander of Israel and the Central District at the Home Front Command says the past is not distant history. For him, he lives in memory, in service, and in the urgency of defending the Jewish homeland, which he believes is still the only place where Jews are truly protected.
“Both of my parents survived the Holocaust,” Konigsberg, whose photo is blurred for security reasons, told Fox News Digital. “My father came from a large Orthodox Jewish family in western Poland. Before the war, the large family had about 700 people. After the Holocaust, only my father and two cousins remained; three people out of 700.”
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Col. (Res.) Eli Konigsberg, the deputy commander of Israel’s Jerusalem and Central District in the Home Front Command whose face is obscured for security reasons, is seen working with reserve forces during the ongoing battle following the Oct. 7 Hamas. (IDF)
After surviving Auschwitz, his father joined the Betar organization and tried to reach the Land of Israel in 1946 on the ship Theodor Herzl. He was arrested by the British authorities, imprisoned in the Atlit camp and exiled to Cyprus for almost two years.
He finally arrived when Israel’s independence was announced.
“He enlisted, fought in the Revolutionary War and four more wars and served in the reserves for 55 years,” Konigsberg said.
On his mother’s side, the loss was especially painful. His parents and sister were taken from their home in eastern Poland after neighbors tipped them off.
“They were forced to dig their graves under a pear tree and they were killed with guns,” he said.
The Holocaust was rarely discussed openly in her childhood home, Konigsberg said, but its presence was constant. Now, he is worried about a different peace.
“We are 80 years after the Holocaust, and people who can say ‘I was there. I saw’ are disappearing,” he said. Therefore, the task of remembering is our task.
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Col. (Res.) Eli Konigsberg, his face obscured for security reasons, is the son of Holocaust survivors and the deputy commander of Israel’s Jerusalem and Central District at the Home Front Command. (IDF)
That sense of responsibility shaped his life. Konigsberg, a father of four daughters and a grandfather, has served more than 36 years in the Israeli army, completing more than 3,600 days of service.
“Ten years of storage work is complete,” he said. In Israel, reservists are officially released from service at the age of 45. Konigsberg chose to continue, “If they call me, I will come immediately.”
Following the Hamas attack on October 7, he was reunited.
“What we saw on October 7 was killing with the intention of killing,” he said. “Not to conquer territory or change reality. It was hate for hate’s sake.”
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Eli Konigsberg, whose face is obscured for security reasons, is shown with his mother near the burial site of his father, his grandfather, in Poland, after he was killed fighting in the Red Army against the German army three days before the end of World War II. (IDF)
Since then, he has commanded rescue and heavy engineering units operating in the Gaza Strip, inside Gaza, and in the north. His forces conducted body identification operations, rescue operations and clearing operations aimed at eliminating terrorist hideouts.
“In the next few days we will return to Gaza again to be washed and dismantled,” he said.
Despite the trauma, he says the reserve system shows something powerful about Israeli society. “The good thing about reserves is that people can have different opinions on politics, everyone still comes and works as one,” he said.
Konigsberg reflected on what he believed history taught as well. “We see now that discrimination existed and will continue to exist in the future,” he said.
He referred to the world’s response to Israel since October 7. “There are bad things happening in other places. For example, the Iranian regime oppresses its people, and you don’t see demonstrations like this, but when it involves Israel and the Jews, there are cries,” he said.
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The ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ sign at the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
For Konigsberg, remembering is not just about mourning the dead. It is about protecting the living. “The place for all Jews is here in Israel,” he added. “And we must remain united and strong. We must be here in our country, strong and united and make sure that ‘we will not do it again’ means we will not do it again,” he said.
