Holocaust Survivor Reunites With Her Savior 67 Years Later For Thanksgiving
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Thanksgiving will have special meaning for a Holocaust survivor who on Wednesday was able to meet a member of the family who rescued her from Nazi tyranny.
As CBS 2's John Slattery reported, the two women had not seen each other since the end of World War II.
Rozia Beiman of Israel owes her life to Vlayslava Dudziak and her parents, who passed her off as a member of their Catholic family during the Holocaust in Poland.
"She said she feel like she never feel great like this," Beiman said, translating Dudziak.
The 85-year-old Dudziak flew in from Warsaw to meet her childhood friend -- the first time they've seen each other in 67 years.
"It gives me beat, exciting, my heart is beating, very hard, very fast," Beiman said.
Beiman was just 4 years old in 1942 when her mother asked the Dudziaks to take in the child, whose parents then perished in a concentration camp.
"If they didn't take me, I wasn't here today. I wouldn't be here," Beiman said. "They knew my parents. They love them."
The reunion was arranged by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous to provide financial assistance to non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the Holocaust.
"To share when they had very little, to share with those in trouble, they special people to be so great," Beiman said.
The two women, who were childhood friends, know that is was the love and bravery of their two families that allowed Wednesday to happen.
The two old friends were to share Thanksgiving dinner at a home in Westchester County with members of their families before flying back to their homes in Poland and Israel.
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