Stories of Survival: A Thanksgiving Reunion

by Michelle . · 2009-11-26 12:52:00 UTC
Topics:

"And they did it only from the goodness of their heart."

Holocaust survivor Joseph Bonder had an emotional Thanksgiving reunion with the Polish man who saved his and his sister's lives by hiding them from the Nazis for two years. Bronislaw Furita arrived in New Jersey, were Bonder has lived since 1963, last night, thanks to the support of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.

According to Bonder, while many Polish families hid Jews for money, Furita and his family never accepted a dime, despite the fact that their own lives would almost certainly be lost of the Nazis ever discovered the fugitive teenagers.

"I'm numb," Bonder said. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. It's once in a lifetime you can see your savior. He is my savior."

The Thanksgiving holiday is certainly fitting for such a reunion -- and, at least for me, puts everything that most of us have to be thankful for into perspective.

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Ready, Get Set, Rally for US Foreign Aid Reform Legislation
NEXT STORY:
Campaign about Apple Factories in China Gains Wide and Diverse Support

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.