At 101, Holocaust Survivor Pulled from the Morgue Gets His First-Ever Solo Art Exhibition

Betzalel (Salik) Katz, a 101-year-old Jerusalem resident who fought in the Red Army, was declared dead on the battlefield, taken to the morgue, and miraculously noticed still breathing at the last second, has just seen his lifelong dream come true: his very first solo exhibition opened this week in the capital.

After losing his entire family in the Holocaust and enduring years of agonizing recovery, Katz turned painting into his oxygen, creating thousands of works over eight decades from Moscow to Jerusalem. Now living in the Neve Horim nursing home, he still paints every day.

Thanks to the “Make a Wish for a Survivor” project run by Ezer Mizion and Israel’s Welfare Ministry, dozens of his paintings (portraits, landscapes, snow-covered Jerusalem scenes) have been collected, catalogued, and proudly displayed at the Harmonie Center under the moving title “Flying Through Time.”

Katz, visibly emotional at the opening, called it “the fulfillment of a dream I carried for years” and pointed to his painting “Snow in Jerusalem” as one of his most cherished. “For the first time,” he said, “so many people can finally see what I’ve been working on my whole life.”