Attack in Australia

Holocaust survivor died protecting woman

Larisa Kleytman lost her husband in the anti-Semitic terrorist attack.(Bild: EPA/DEAN LEWINS)

The anti-Semitic terrorist attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney has claimed at least 16 lives. Among them is a Holocaust survivor. He died while protecting his wife from the attackers' bullets.

Alexander Kleytman had survived the Holocaust and emigrated to Australia from the Ukraine. On Sunday, the 87-year-old and his wife Larisa Kleytman, like many other Jews, went to the popular Bondi Beach in Sydney to celebrate Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Then two gunmen opened fire on the crowd.

Larisa Kleytman lost her husband in the anti-Semitic terrorist attack.(Bild: EPA/DEAN LEWINS)

Survived the Holocaust as a child
"We were standing there and suddenly the 'boom boom' came and everyone dropped to the ground. At that moment, he was behind me and suddenly decided to come closer to me. He pushed his body up because he wanted to stay close to me," Kleytman later told The Australian. "He died protecting his wife from the attackers' bullets," wrote the Jewish group Chabad on X. The retired civil engineer leaves behind his wife, to whom he was married for 57 years, two children and eleven grandchildren. According to the organization "Jewish Care", Larisa Kleytman also survived the Holocaust as a child.

The Jewish group Chabad published details of the victims:

Ten-year-old girl killed
The youngest victim of the attack is ten-year-old Matilda Bee Britvan. The Harmony Russian School of Sydney confirmed that the girl went to school there. "We are deeply saddened to inform you that a former student of our school has succumbed to her gunshot wounds in hospital," it said on Facebook. Matilda had just celebrated her tenth birthday last month. Her aunt told the Australian broadcaster ABC that Matilda's sister was standing next to her when she was shot and can hardly cope with the loss of her sister. "They were like twins - they were never separated".

"Bondi-Rabbi" shot dead
One of the main organizers of Sunday's Hanukkah celebration was Hasidic Rabbi Eli Schlanger. The 41-year-old was known as the "Bondi Rabbi" and was head of the local mission of the Jewish organization Chabad. His cousin, Rabbi Zalman Lewis, confirmed the rabbi's death on Instagram. He leaves behind his wife and children, the youngest of whom is only two months old. "He was the most God-fearing, humane, kind and gracious person I have ever known," Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jews told reporters in Bondi on Monday morning.

Overwhelming sympathy, a sea of flowers: the victims of the anti-Semitic attack are remembered at Bondi Beach in Sydney.(Bild: AFP/SAEED KHAN)

"Tragic irony"
Former police officer and amateur photographer Peter Meagher was also murdered in the massacre on Bondi Beach. This was confirmed by his rugby club, according to the BBC. It is a "tragic irony that he was a police officer on the dangerous front line for so long and has now died in retirement while taking photographs, his great passion. This is really hard to comprehend," the association explained.

Arsen Ostrovsky posted a selfie with a bloody head.(Bild: x.com/Arsen Ostrovsky)

Six injured in a critical condition
The dead also include a French IT analyst and other members of the Chabad community in Bondi, including a second rabbi. 27 injured people are still being treated in hospitals. According to the authorities, six of them are in a critical condition and six others are in a critical but stable condition. Among the injured is human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky. He was grazed by a bullet and posted a selfie on X with his head covered in blood (see above).