Two men who first met 80 years ago during the Holocaust have been reunited in South Florida. Jack Waksal and Sam Ron were both being held as slave labourers at the Pionki Labor Camp in Poland during the Second World War and became close friends, however both managed to eventually escape, when Waksal managed to run off and Ron was transported to a new camp that eventually fell into Allied hands. Neither knew what happened to the other after the war.
It was when Waksal decided to attend the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's South Florida Dinner this year that he realised one of the guest speakers was Ron.
In an interview, Ron said of Waksal:
"He jumped off the seat and came running over to my seat and says, 'You're my brother'. I was very emotional, I'm normally not a very emotional guy."
Both had by sheer coincidence ended up in Ohio and then both moved to Florida in their later years, now living just 40 miles from one another.
In an interview with CBS, Ron described their harsh existence under Nazi rule, saying:
"We were pushing coal to the oven to make heat to make power, and Jack said he worked at the same place! Hard work, bad conditions, cold, hunger, hundreds of people died. It wasn't uncommon to wake up in the morning and find the person next to you cold."
Adding:
"We worked together. We suffered together. It was very much an emotional day, and I hope to keep in touch with him."
The pair now say they will stay in touch and catch up on a lot of lost time. Ron himself spends his time educating others about the Holocaust, in particular the younger generation. He says:
"I try to teach them not to hate, and to have a lot of hope and believe in yourself. This is what I did, this is how I survived because I believe in myself."
Six million Jews and several million others were killed during the Nazi holocaust, including Soviet prisoners of war, communists, homosexuals and Roma gypsies.
[Based on reporting by: Upworthy]
