He never got to read the words, but the letter he left behind became a living testament for his family, his subordinates, and the entire Israeli people.
By Hezy Laing
Major Yaniv Kola, a company commander who fell in combat in the Gaza Strip, wrote a special letter to his soldiers ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day following the “Witnesses in Uniform” campaign.
He did not have time to read the words to his soldiers, which are now being published after his death.
Major Yaniv Kola, who fell in combat in Rafah six months ago, planned to stand before his soldiers on Holocaust Remembrance Day and read them a page he had written.
In the letter, Kola drew a clear and direct line between the greatest disaster the Jewish people have ever known and the IDF’s current war.
He never got to read the words, but the letter he left behind became a living testament for his family, his subordinates, and the entire Israeli people.
In his letter, which opened with a quote from Menachem Begin about the willingness to sacrifice one’s life to save one’s brothers, Yaniv referred to the war in Gaza and connected it to the IDF’s historical duty.
“Even then, when the smokestacks of Birkenau and the railway tracks to Majdanek were operating at full strength, Begin sanctified the rebellion,” Yaniv wrote.
“Even today, we sanctify the war, to eradicate the evil in the world that threatens every Israeli and Jewish soul, wherever it may be.”
Later in the letter, Kola explicitly mentioned the immediate goal of the fighting in Gaza, “This war is for our brothers who are dying in Hamas captivity, both civilians and soldiers. We are fighting to restore security to the residents of the State of Israel.”
He noted the heavy price that the war also exacts from the company’s family and emphasized that the fighting is intended to preserve the legacy of the fallen.
The main part of the letter was written inspired by the IDF’s “Witnesses in Uniform” trip to Poland, in which Yaniv participated in the year before the war.
Of all the horrors of the Holocaust, Yaniv chose to dwell specifically on an event that occurred after its end.
“One of the experiences that burned the most in my memory was a small town, in whose cemetery there is a memorial stone to the memory of twenty-two people murdered in a pogrom in 1946,” he shared with his soldiers.
This fact, that Jews were murdered because of their Jewishness, after the war, sharpened for him the meaning of the existence of the State of Israel.
“The shocking incident made me think about how much the Land of Israel is the safest place for us and how much we fight every day so that this does not happen again,” he wrote.
At the end of his letter, Yaniv addressed his soldiers with a clear message of action and determination: “We are doing sacred work, brothers in arms, and we will continue to do it as only we know how – with a smile and resourcefulness.
We will continue to fight our enemies who rise up against us, to win in every encounter while maintaining our values and upholding the will of our brothers.”
Major Yaniv Kola was killed on October 19, 2025, in Rafah, southern Gaza. During a ceasefire, Hamas operatives emerged from a tunnel and fired RPGs/anti-tank missiles at an IDF excavator.
Kola, a company commander in the 932nd Battalion, died in the surprise attack alongside another soldier
