1945
Sara is brought back to a camp. This time to the liberated concentration camp in Buchenwald. The Swiss Red Cross organizes children's transports to America, Switzerland and Palestine. Sara and her family decide on Palestine without hesitation. Via Paris and Marseille, Sara arrives with her brothers and sisters with the first immigration ship to Haifa, Palestine, on 16 July 1945.
Sara: „When I came to Palestine as a 12-year old girl, I was so happy and excited and just wanted to shout out: 'I'm alive, I'm a free Jewish girl!' I was born again at the age of 12.“
1945
The next camp is already awaiting Sara. Palestine is still under British mandate at that time. To stop the influx of Jews from Europe to Palestine, the British detained thousands in camps for "illegal immigrants". Sara and other children are allowed to enter legally but still detained in the prison camp at Atlit, near the port of Haifa. Barbed wire again, disinfection, separation - and Sara's nightmare – more traincars.
1949
After the War of Independence Sara could do something that she had never been allowed to do - go to school. She enters the boarding school "Mossad Alia" with 200 other orphans. She stays there for 3 ½ years. Later she works in youth groups and is actively committed to the young state of Israel.
Sara: „The Gottdiener family experienced a miracle. Despite the mortal fears and suffering we went through, despite the burning and killing of 60 members of our family, nearly the whole family survived , and this family was actively involved in the founding of Israel.“
