David Lenga, a Holocaust survivor and Woodland Hills resident, was joined on Tuesday, Nov. 28, by Ariel Ein-Gal, a survivor of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, for a tour of the Auschwitz exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
Lenga, who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp 80 years ago, was 11 and running an errand on a street car in Poland when sirens blared and airplanes descended, dropping bombs and creating rivers of blood.
Ariel Ein-Gal, who survived Hamas’ attack on Oct 7, displays a tattoo in honor of his friend Mor Gabay, 30, who was killed in the Hamas attack, speaks to the media after a tour of the exhibition, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away'” with Holocaust survivor, David Lenga, who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA Tuesday, Nov 28, 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Ariel Ein-Gal, who survived Hamas’ attack on October 7, and Holocaust survivor, David Lenga, who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and Lenga’s caregiver Martha Ramirez, tour the exhibition, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away'” at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA Tuesday, Nov 28, 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Ariel Ein-Gal, who survived Hamas’ attack on October 7, and Holocaust survivor, David Lenga, who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and Lenga’s caregiver Martha Ramirez, tour the exhibition, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away'” at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA Tuesday, Nov 28, 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Ariel Ein-Gal, who survived Hamas’ attack on October 7, speaks to the media after a tour of the exhibition, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away'” with Holocaust survivor, David Lenga, who survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA Tuesday, Nov 28, 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Ariel Ein-Gal, a 26-year-old Israeli, was at Zikim Beach in October with 21 friends when Hamas attacked. He was asleep as missiles pounded the beach and terrorists landed by boat, firing AK-47s at him and his friends. One of his friends, Mor Gabay, 30, a woman, was killed.
Following the tour at the Reagan Library, Ein-Gal spoke to journalists and showed them his tattoo in honor of Gabay. The tattoo on the inside of his left forearm is made up of the numbers 20/21, similar to those that Germans tattooed on Jews during the Holocaust.
For Ein-Gal, the 21 represents the number of people at the Zikim Beach party and 20 represents the number who survived.
The exhibit, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away,” debuted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on March 24 and was recently extended through Jan. 28, 2024, due to unprecedented demand. More than 165,000 patrons have toured the exhibit from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and around the world.
