Holocaust Survivor Eliahu Pietruszka Discovers Lost Nephew

Going through the Holocaust had to be horrific from the stories I have read about. But thinking that your entire family was killed in the war, and then learning that you have a surviving nephew, had to be the largest surprise ever for this 102-year-old Jewish survivor.

Back in the days of World War II, it was common that families were ripped apart or murdered together, not ever knowing if there were any survivors to speak of.

Eliahu Pietruszka’s family was murdered during the war. Without contact or anyone informing him of survivors, he spent the majority of his life thinking about the loss. But one day, Alexandre Pietruszka, nephew of Eliahu, met him during a retirement celebration and you can only imagine the level of surprise both had upon seeing one another.

Haaretz reports: “Eliahu Pietruszka thought his brother, Volf, who was the visitor’s father, had died in a labor camp after losing contact with him following the murder of their brother and parents in the Holocaust. A 102-year-old Israeli Holocaust survivor who thought his brother had died in Russian gulag discovered he had also survived and met his brother’s son. Eliahu Pietruszka met earlier this month in his retirement in Kfar Saba his nephew, Alexandre Pietruszka a 66-year-old who came for the meeting from Russia, the Associated Press reported.”

I have to admit my face was leaking after watching this video. Holocaust survivors endured so much, it’s unimaginable. It boggles my mind when people say the Holocaust never happened.

There is no doubt why Israel is one of the most extraordinary nations in the world. It’s because of people like this – people who have suffered pain and humiliation but, despite these setbacks, still had the courage to carry on into the future.

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