87 yo Holocaust Survivor Meets US Soldier Who Liberated Him From Concentration Camp

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

This one will put a knot in your throat...

 

"I Have Everything In My Life Because Of Him": Poignant moment as Holocaust survivor salutes American soldier who liberated him from Nazi concentration camp hell in emotional reunion after 70 years | DailyMail

 

This is the poignant moment when a man rescued from the hell he endured at the hands of the Nazis met his saviour and gave him a salute almost 70 years later.

 

Joshua Kaufman first saluted his rescuer Daniel Gillespie. Then he kissed his hand and finally, he fell to his feet, exclaiming: 'I have wanted to do this for 70 years. I love you, I love you so much...'.

 

Kaufman, now 87, was a 'walking corpse' on April 29 1945 when U.S. Army soldier Gillespie, 89, marched in with his comrades to liberate the charnel house that was the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.

 

Gillespie, a machine gunner with the 42nd 'Rainbow Division,' moved to block 11 of the infamous complex which was the first camp built by the Nazis to house its enemies in 1933.

 

 

 

[UKMustangFan]

Wow.

 

Powerful stuff.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[MJAlltheWay24]

I can never wrap my brain around the Holocaust. I always enjoy stories like this, watch any movie that I can get my hands on, and read several books. Just can't do it.

[MJAlltheWay24]

Amazingly, neither knew that they lived within an hour's drive of each other until a German documentary crew arranged their moving reunion on the sand at Hungtington Beach, California.

 

^ That's crazy to me.

 

He was hiding in the latrines with other prisoners, uncertain if the soldiers who arrived were liberators or a Nazi death squad sent to liquidate the camp.

 

I really can never imagine what it took to survive dark places like Dachau, Auschwitz, and etc.

[lawildcat]

I love stories like this!

[Jim Schue]

Amazingly, neither knew that they lived within an hour's drive of each other until a German documentary crew arranged their moving reunion on the sand at Hungtington Beach, California.

 

^ That's crazy to me.

 

He was hiding in the latrines with other prisoners, uncertain if the soldiers who arrived were liberators or a Nazi death squad sent to liquidate the camp.

 

I really can never imagine what it took to survive dark places like Dachau, Auschwitz, and etc.

 

I would say a ridiculously unbelievable amount of compartmentalization, among other things.

[spindoc]

That chokes me up.

[hoops5]

Just an incredible story.

[Jumper_Dad]

Thanks for sharing!

[Watusi]

Wow, that is incredibly moving.