Life-Saving Gesture Remembered in Tearful Thanksgiving Reunion
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NEW YORK — Half a century ago, two strangers saved Nechama Singer Ariel’s life. They let her hide beneath the floor of their home while Nazis destroyed her village and killed her family.
This Thanksgiving, she welcomed them to her home.
The 68-year-old woman and the two brothers, Mikhail Vavrisevich, 73, and Nikolai Vavrisevich, 71, hugged, kissed and cried when the pair arrived Tuesday from Ukraine. Ariel had not seen the Vavriseviches since the end of World War II.
“You are as lovely as you were when I knew you as a girl. You were my first love,” Nikolai said, handing her a bouquet of flowers and brushing away his tears to kiss her. An interpreter translated for him.
The brothers were flown to New York by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which provides financial support for Christians who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
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