The Media Line: ‘Here with an Honest Heart’: Grandson of Nazi and His Family Struggle for Israeli Home 

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‘Here with an Honest Heart’: Grandson of Nazi and His Family Struggle for Israeli Home 

Attorney Assaf Weitzen says the State can choose not to renew a visa, ‘but in the face of such continuous and exceptional contribution, such a step is simply not appropriate.’  

By Maayan Hoffman / The Media Line Staff 

The drive from Jerusalem to Poria Illit is long and sweltering, with traffic jams marking the winding highways as impatient drivers swerve to pass lumbering trucks on the narrow, one-lane roads. But when you finally turn into the settlement, something shifts—it feels almost magical. The waters of the Sea of Galilee stretch for kilometers, blending into the sky in a shade of turquoise so dazzling it’s nearly blinding. Trees line the streets, and for a moment, it feels like stepping back into biblical times, when people planted orchards and ate from the vine’s fruit. 

Alexander and Cacilia Dietze live with their four children in a two-story house on a quiet road in Poria Illit. They are Christians from Germany who, as young adults, left their home and moved to Israel to support Holocaust survivors in their final years. For Alexander, it was also a deeply personal mission—an attempt to repent for the sins of his grandfather, a decorated Nazi whose past he only uncovered in his twenties. 

This was the same grandfather who had once taught him to ride a bike and played ball with him in Germany. Learning the truth was shattering. But as a devout Christian, Alexander and his wife resolved to take action. 

“You know the righteous gentiles in Yad Vashem?” Alexander said, referring to the section of Israel’s Holocaust memorial that honors non-Jews who saved Jewish lives or resisted the Nazis during World War II. “We are part of these modern, living, righteous gentiles. We still exist.” 

The Dietze family has lived in Israel for most of the past 11 years. They began as volunteers with the Helping Hand Coalition, an NGO that supports terror victims, Holocaust survivors, hungry IDF soldiers, and more. Later, they founded their own NGO in Germany, Back to Zion, through which they raise funds to sustain their work with Holocaust survivors in Israel. 

Since November 2024, however, the family has been living in Israel illegally—without a valid visa—as they wait for renewal from the Population Authority and the Ministry of Interior. Their lawyers at Warshe–Weitzen Law Offices said they have applied multiple times, even sending it directly to former Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, who stepped down in July. 

The lawyers explained that the Interior Ministry is not required to respond within a set timeframe, often leaving cases unresolved for long periods. While this practice is legal, they said, it is also frustrating and unfair. 

In the meantime, the Dietzes are in limbo. They cannot leave Israel for fear they won’t be allowed back in. Their children consider themselves Israeli, and Holocaust survivors who rely on their support feel their absence would be devastating. Hundreds of people have already written letters to the ministry on their behalf. 

“This family has been living in Israel for more than a decade, raising four children here, contributing to various IDF units, and tirelessly supporting Holocaust survivors,” said Attorney Assaf Weitzen, a partner at Warshe–Weitzen Law Offices. “Hundreds of survivors have sent letters of support in appreciation of their work, and in the past, their contribution was already recognized by the Minister of Interior, who allowed them to continue living here.” 

Weitzen acknowledged that “it is true that the state is formally entitled to revoke the permit – but in the face of such continuous and exceptional contribution, such a step is simply not appropriate. Sometimes deeds and values are more important than blood ties; this is precisely the case in which Israel must make a principled decision and allow the family to continue living in Israel.” 

When The Media Line appealed to the ministry and the Population Authority for clarification, officials said the couple initially entered Israel on volunteer or tourist visas and have since submitted several applications on different grounds, including humanitarian ones. Still, the government confirmed, their last valid visa expired in November 2024. 

“From our review, it appears that there is no pending application,” the ministry stated. “Should an updated application be submitted on their behalf, they must proceed per the regulations.” 

The family’s legal team showed The Media Line copies of the applications and said they could not respond to the ministry’s claim. 

Why not just give up? 

“It’s tough to live in Israel,” Cacilia admitted. “We see many young families like ours leaving.” 

She explained that friends often tell her she is crazy for staying in Israel—especially when the country effectively pushes them out by not renewing their visas. But the couple is determined. 

“We want to be here, where we believe God wants us to be,” Cacilia told The Media Line. 

Alexander grew up in a secular family, but in his early twenties, he suffered both a physical and mental breakdown that led him to Christianity and to reading the Bible. It was then, he said, that he discovered his Christian faith was rooted in Judaism. 

One night, while giving testimony, Alexander’s grandfather appeared with his Nazi medals. Until then, they had never spoken about his past. 

Cacilia was raised a Christian in eastern Germany after the fall of the Iron Curtain, in an environment where extreme right-wing nationalism was on the rise. 

“I was so ashamed of being a German,” Cacilia recalled. “It was a shame of the Third Reich, the Nazis, and this new, upcoming right-wing extremism.” She said her Christian background told her that “somehow something cannot be right here.” 

The couple met when Alexander was 28 years old. Soon after they married, they chose Israel as their honeymoon destination. 

“Out of that came a vision, a responsibility,” Alexander said. “We went deeper in our relationship, as Christians and as Germans, towards the Jewish people.” 

When they returned home, they knew they had to come back. They quickly found a way to volunteer in Israel, and aside from a two-year break between 2016 and 2018, they have been in Israel ever since. 

Their work is supported by private donations from people who share their vision and believe Germans must confront and repent for their past. The hundreds of Holocaust survivors they work with—even hosting them for meals and activities in their home—have become like family. For the survivors, it is as if things have come full circle: they can reconnect with their past in a way that allows them to begin healing. 

While the Dietze family says there are many Christian Germans who support Israel back home, far fewer have actually chosen to live in Israel. 

One family, like the Dietzes, became well known after October 7, when their son, a Christian Zionist, was killed in battle in Gaza. 

Nelli and Gideon Bayer run Zedakah, a German-Christian charity organization that funds and operates the Bet Eliezer nursing home for Holocaust survivors in the northern city of Ma’alot. Gideon’s parents, Hans and Crystal Bayer, came to Israel in the late 1960s and opened the Beth El guest house in Shavei Zion – a hotel that offered free stays for Holocaust survivors and their families. Bet Eliezer is staffed almost entirely by Christian volunteers from Europe, who live in the facility with the residents.  

The Bayer family was originally from Germany’s Black Forest region, near Stuttgart. 

IDF Sgt.-Maj. Urija Bayer, a member of the Maglan Special Forces unit of the Nahal Brigade, was killed in December 2023 at the age of 20. His family, who had been living as permanent residents, was granted citizenship afterward. 

“For me, as a German, it is a privilege to do our work here, to support the people as much as possible – people who were harmed by the Germans,” Gideon Bayer told The Media Line. “For us, this is a gift from God. It is not obvious that survivors would be ready to take help from Germans.” 

Cacilia acknowledged that Israel is a Jewish state and that it is not a guarantee that Christians would be allowed to live there. However, she said the country should encourage this kind of bridge-building. 

“We believe this is for a bigger purpose,” Alexander said. “It’s not logical. It’s not out of goodwill. We believe it’s worthy and a sacrifice of love.” 

He admitted that fighting to stay in Israel is “exhausting” and said he believes enough is enough. 

“We are really here with an honest heart,” he said. “We need a decision.”