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Ofer Sarenka Aloni

"Finding Maya" - daughter of Sarenka, who was handed into care of another for the sake of the Warsa



The script: "Finding Maya" - daughter of Sarenka, who was handed into care of another for the sake of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising


It lay like a stone unturned for 69 years, a historical treasure of personal-social value: a code2hope, preserved in a worn, tin box, red as the world’s flush of shame, from the WWII period, and found in Tel Aviv in February 2012.

What did the treasure consist of? Chilling letters and photographs linked to hope, the foundation of our existence - “for a person without hope is likened to the dead”.


The person who found this treasure is an author and artistic creator who has been consciously promoting HOPE for over a decade. He is Ofer, named for his aunt, Ofra, or Sarenka in Polish, which means “young deer”, the same Sarenka who wrote to Ofer’s mother (her sister) and whose image is captured on a rare and unique photograph.


A renowned symbol of Holocaust heritage: the memorial sculpture in Warsaw by Nathan Rapoport, carved into the very stone that Adolf Hitler planned to use for his own victory commemorative.

In front: Mordechai Anilewicz. Behind him, a woman looking at the infant she holds. Is this none other than Sarenka, my aunt after whom I am named? Was she the sculptor’s inspiration, together with Mordechai Anilewicz, Commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising?


The letters and photo brought to light how the group was actually focused around the young woman, Sarenka, the real spirit behind the Uprising.

Her letters reveal she gave birth to a daughter, Maya, who was handed over to the care of others and has still not been found.


What I know about Maya is that she was born on 20 February 1941 in Vilna, to Moshe Kopito and Rachel Sarenka Zylberberg.

In January 1942, Sarenka decides to place Maya with others so that she can rejoin her peers in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Sarenka comes from Vilna to the Warsaw Ghetto with two tidings - first she describes the systematic genocide in Vilna, then she announces a decision: to rebel against the Nazis.

Sarenka placed her baby with another woman, a communist doctor working in an orphanage in Vilna, changing Maya’s name to Yodviga Sogak. Since then no trace of Maya has been found.

Please share this video, together we can find Maya. Ofer Sarenka Aloni






























Aliza Vitis Shomron testified about the Warsaw Gheto Uprizing / Ofer Aloni


Prof. Israel Gutman to Ofer Aloni: "I hardly need to teach you about it..."





Prof. Matityahu Mintz, on Sarenka highly important role in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising



Creator: Ofer Aloni, author and designer of the personal path to shared Hope, in the personal, social, marketing and political arenas. Named for his aunt Sarenka (Ofra), a Warsaw Ghetto Uprising rebel, who left her infant daughter Maya, who was never found, and  charged with inconceivable courage, entered the besieged ghetto in order to join forces with others who rebelled against the Nazis.  Together with them she fought for the sake of that existential need, Hope…




The Jerusalem Post


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