As terrified teenagers 65 years ago, Menachen Scholowics and Anshel Sieradkzi stood in line together in Auschwitz, havng serial numbers tattooed on their arms. Sholowics was B-14594; Sieradki was B-14595. The two polish Jews were quickly separated. . Each survived the Nazi death camp, moved to Israel , married and became grandfathers. They did not meet again until a few weeks ago, having stumbled upon each other through the internet. " we are blood brothrs" Sieradzki, 81. The twist of fate doesn't end there. Two brothers who were with them in the tattooist's line have made contact since hearing their story. Shaul Zawadzki and his older brother Yaakov, serial numbers B-14596and B-14597, too survived Auschwitz and made it to Isreal.Yaakov Zawadzki, 82, joined Sholowicz and Sieradzki for the reunion Sunday at Isreal's holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. The unikely reconnection began when Sholowicz's daughter found a wed site that detailed Sieradzki's odyssey from Auschwitz to isreal. it struck her as eerily similar to her father's.
All the same elements were there - being separated from there parents and sibings and never seeing them again, searching for scraps of bread to eat in the Polish ghettos, surviving the selection process of Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Auschwitz camp doctor who decided who would live and who would die. they endured Nazi marches to two other camps in which any prisoner who fell behind was shot in the head. Later, both moved to Isreal and made careers in its military industry.
Still, the name Sieradzki on the web site didn't ring a bell. Then Sholowicz, 80 saw the man's number and he froze. Sholowicz said he never noticed the others in line with him at Auschwitz. Those too old, too young or too ill were sent to the gas chambers and the crematoria. Those fit enough to work were tattooed and forced into labor. "our fate was to be together either in life or in death," Sholowicz said.
by the associated press
