(AP) — Rivka Avihail, a Holocaust survivor who devoted her life to education, remembrance and advocacy for fellow survivors—particularly those who lived in hiding as children—has died in Israel at the age of 93, Israeli media reported.

Avihail was born in France and was still a child when Nazi persecution spread across Europe during World War II. She survived the Holocaust after being forced into hiding, an experience she later said robbed her generation of childhood itself.

“We were children without parents, without stability, without a voice,” Avihail said in a past interview. “We survived, but we grew up carrying fear and silence inside us.”

After the war, she immigrated to Israel, where she married Rabbi Eliyahu Avihail Z’L, a rabbi and educator who was active in religious and communal life. Together, they built a family and dedicated decades to education and public service.

Avihail worked for many years as an educator and later emerged as a leading advocate for Jews who survived the Holocaust while in hiding — often referred to as “hidden children,” a group she said was long overlooked.

“For many years, people thought that if you weren’t in a camp, you weren’t really a survivor,” she said. “But a child in hiding lives every day with the fear of death.”

To address that gap, she founded Alumim, an organization dedicated to supporting hidden children of the Holocaust, raising awareness of their experiences and providing emotional and communal support. She also spearheaded initiatives to document survivor testimonies, stressing the urgency of preserving firsthand accounts as the survivor generation dwindles.

“If we do not tell our stories ourselves, others will tell them for us — or they will disappear altogether,” Avihail warned in another interview. “Memory is not automatic. It must be protected.”

Even in advanced age, Avihail remained active in public discourse, frequently linking Holocaust remembrance to contemporary Jewish life and rising antisemitism. She emphasized that remembrance carried moral responsibility, not only historical value.

“The Holocaust is not just history,” she said. “It is a warning. Forgetting is the first step toward repetition.”

During Israel’s current war, Israeli media reported that members of her family, including grandchildren, were serving in the Israel Defense Forces — a connection Avihail described as a powerful symbol of Jewish continuity, from persecution in Europe to sovereignty in Israel.

Tributes following her death described Avihail as a quiet but resolute moral voice who transformed personal trauma into lifelong service.