There were nothing but hugs and kisses at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Thursday night at a reunion long overdue for Saul Dreier and his cousin, Lucy Weinberg.
The two Holocaust survivors united at the airport after being separated as young children in a concentration camp during World War II.
"After the war my mother and I went to Krakow (Poland) to check if someone was alive," said the 82-year-old Weinberg. "They said there was nobody."
Dreier, 85, was thinking the same thing. Hours before the reunion inside his Coconut Creek home, he reflected back to a time he'd rather forget. He believed his entire family, 35 strong, were killed during the Holocaust.
But in the 60's, a chance meeting with friends from the Concentration camp provided him with news he had longed for. His friends Edith and Sam told him that his cousin was alive, and showed him a picture of Lucy, post World War II.
"It's something else, something unusual like a miracle," said Dreier. "It's family, somebody from my blood."
His desperate search which began in the 70's was a challenge. Local, State, and National Jewish organizations had no record of Weinberg. His search even went as far as Israel, but no luck. That was until he solicited help from the American Red Cross in April of this year.
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The American Red Cross and its Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center scoured records from more than 180 Red Cross Societies. Officials finally got hits in The Czech Republic and Poland. And about six weeks ago, they found Lucy alive and living in Canada.
Now a family torn apart by hate has been brought together more than 60 years later with love.
"I thank the Red Cross from deep in my heart for making this happen," said Dreier. "I've got another survivor with me."
