Tova Ben Zvi (; 1928 – 16 September 2020) was an Israeli singer and a survivor of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Life and career

Ben Zvi was born in 1928 in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, where she lived in the

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

. Her father was a Jewish

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

. After the ghetto began to be emptied, she was sent to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

. Later she would find out that she was the only member of her family to survive the

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

ended, she went to study literature at the

University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

. Ben Zvi released her first album in 1959. She sings

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

and many of her songs are about reconciliation. In 2009, ''Świat Tovy'', a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

documentary about her life, was released. The thirty-minute film was directed by Michał Bukojemski. Ben Zvi was awarded the title of ''Człowiek Pojednania'' (Man of Reconciliation) by the Polish Council of Christians and Jews. Ben Zvi died on 16 September 2020.

References

External links

*
Tova's World
' (English subtitles) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Zvi, Tova 1928 births 2020 deaths Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli women folk singers Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Łódź Ghetto inmates Jewish Israeli singers Jewish women singers Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Polish Jews in Israel Polish Holocaust survivors Yiddish-language singers of Israel