Anna Nachman is responsible for all the funerals at the Jewish congregation in Stockholm. She is always on call and must be ready for a call at any time. There is no such thing as free time, her private life and work is intimately intertwined. Constantly living in the shadow of death has given her perspective on life. “I am humbler, I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore. The prize you have to pay to live is death.”
According to Jewish tradition a deceased should be buried within 24 hours, making Anna Nachman’s work very unpredictable. “The people I might be burying next week or even tomorrow are still alive today. In a way it’s like being a lighthouse keeper. I just wait.”
Anna Nachman is worried, more and more Holocaust survivors are dying, many to the Corona-virus.
“Soon all the witnesses will be gone. Who will tell their stories then?”