Lola was born in Germany and was one of the 10,000 children who found refuge in England, arriving alone through the “kindertransport”. She went to school in England and subsequently obtained nursing training.
In 1948, with the establishment of Israel, she volunteered to serve in Israel’s Army Medical Corps. She later wrote, “Since I had narrowly escaped the horrors of the Holocaust, I felt I owed ‘my people’ allegiance and served in the IDF. I always believed, had there been a Jewish homeland, the Holocaust might not have happened, or at least not have cost millions of innocence lives”.
After two years of military service, Lola volunteered to serve in Aden with “Operation Magic Carpet” bringing Yemenite Jews to Israel.
She later immigrated to the U.S. to return to her studies and married Paul, also a veteran of Israel’s War of Independence.
Lola volunteered again as a devoted senior.
A letter from Lola written in 2004:
“In 1948 I volunteered from England to serve in the IDF. Very few people knew of my plan and those who did know considered me crazy. At this point in time, the reaction of family and friends is not different. While my immediate family and friends did not exactly support my various trips to Israel, they understood my desire to do so. In 2002 I again embarked on my venture, despite disparaging remarks and even ridicule, for example: ‘Israel is waiting for assistance from a woman in her seventies (other than financial contributions)? What do you want to achieve by going to a war-torn country?’ I planned to volunteer in some capacity and was not to be deterred.
A former colleague from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York had become Director of Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. Prior to his departure from New York to return to Israel he told me that he would accept me in his department any time I am interested in working in his field. When I approached him upon my arrival in Israel, he kept his word and I was assigned to his department. My assignment consisted of computer operations, correcting charts, papers, etc. not a strenuous assignment but helpful to the overworked staff which was overburdened and stressed to the limit of endurance. Therefore, the work I did had been left for months.
Life in Israel goes on despite depression and anxiety. The determination of most Israelis to survive in the face of scant tourism and economic distress compounds their feelings of Israel’s isolation, disappointment and anger. I was saddened to find more gentiles visited the ‘Holy Land’ than our own brethren who were afraid to come to Israel. Personal health problems have curtailed my travel plans since 2002 but I fully intend to visit Israel before the end of 2004. I hope more Machalniks will do so as well”.
Lola passed away in January 2008 after a long and hard battle with cancer.
Source: American Veterans of Israel Newsletter Spring 2008