BOCA RATON, Fla. — It’s been 77 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp and the Holocaust ended. However, for so many survivors, it still feels like yesterday.
The Jewish people who survived the genocide of 6 million are fewer each year as time passes.
On Sunday, the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County hosted an emotional reunion more than 60 years in the making.
"It’s a day I never thought would come," said Eric Lipetz, Holocaust survivor. "I’m emotional every time I think about this. I’ve been emotional for the past two weeks."
Lipetz met Rogers Hall, the son of the late Col. John Hall, who liberated Lipetz, bringing him and his family to America.
Hall said he didn’t this reunion would mean so much.
"It’s wonderful to hear that he was generous and kind and somewhat heroic on multiple occasions and this is one of them that I had no idea about," said Hall.
Looking back at pictures from his childhood, Lipetz said this day was something he dreamed about for years.
"I couldn’t believe this day came," said Lipetz. "I really thought I was going to end my life not knowing anything about Col. Hall, not being able to say thank you and here I am with his son. That’s why I’m alive and that’s why my family is alive, and my family has grown so much. It’s because of people like Col. Hall."
Although time cannot erase the horrors Lipetz endured, his reunion has created a memory he will never forget.