OFF CAMPUS

Tattoos From Auschwitz Horror Reunite Lost

By: The New York Times

Posted: 4/23/09

Menachem Sholowicz and Anshel Sieradzki stood in line together in Auschwitz, as terrified teenagers 65 years ago, having serial numbers tattooed on their arms. Sholowicz was B-14594; Sieradzki was B-14595. Both were Polish Jews who had never met or spoke and after standing in that line, they were quickly separated yet their stories are strikingly similar. Each survived the Nazi death camp, moved to Israel, married, and became grandfathers. They lived separate lives until a few weeks ago, when they stumbled upon each other through the Internet. Now, the two men speak daily. They immediately found a strong connection and suddenly became like brothers who share their darkest traumas.''We are blood brothers,'' said Sieradzki, 81. But the story doesn't end there.

Two brothers who were with them in the tattooist's line have made contact since hearing of their story and one of the brothers joined them for a reunion on Sunday at Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. All three had tears in their eyes as they embraced and shared painful memories ''This is my victory,'' proclaimed Sieradzki.

The four survivors are among hundreds of thousands of survivors who poured into Israel at the birth of the Jewish state. An estimated 250,000 are still alive in Israel today, carrying the physical and emotional scars of that era. ''It is never forgotten, not for a moment,'' Sieradzki said. ''It's like an infected sore deep inside that hurts every time it is exposed.''

The unlikely reconnection began when Sholowicz's daughter found a Web site that detailed Sieradzki's journey from Auschwitz to Israel. She took notice because it struck her as eerily similar to her father's. Although the name Sieradzki was not familiar, Sholowicz saw the man's number and he froze. ''I rolled up my sleeve and sure enough - I stood exactly ahead of him in line at Auschwitz,'' he said. The discovery ''was a moment of great emotion...We went through it all together. We are like two parallel lines that never met.'' He then called Sieradzki the following day.

Sieradzki is astounded that they both survived the Holocaust and lived this long. In Auschwitz, "I used to think about getting through the moment, the hour, most the day,'' he said. "I didn't think about the next day, because I didn't think I was going to live to see the next day." "Our fate was to be together either in life or in death,'' Sholowicz said. ''Now we have life.''