Holocaust survivors reunite 79 years later in unexpected encounter

BOCA RATON, Fla. —
Sam Ron pointed to a framed photo on the wall inside his home in Boca Raton, Florida.
"This is my house in Poland," he said.

The photo hangs along with dozens of others.

"This is after the war," he said. "We survived."

They are all photos of Ron and his family, both before and after their time in concentration camps in World War II.

"It was terrible. Hunger was the worst thing at the camp," Ron said.

In all, Ron survived five different camps during the war, including a labor camp in Poland called Pionki.

"That camp was hard work, very little food," Ron said.

After the war, Ron crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. He has called South Florida his home for the last 25 years.

Last week, he was the honorary speaker at an event in Boca Raton hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Museum. There were other holocaust survivors there also, including a man named Jack Waksal.

At his home in Bal Harbour, Waksal showed sister station WPBF his mementos from his childhood and from the war, including a photo of himself shortly after the war ended.

"That's when I came out of the forest," he said, referring to where he spent the final six months of World War II, hiding from the Nazis.

Waksal said when he arrived at the event in Boca Raton, he quickly thought he knew Ron from somewhere, but couldn't place it.

"He was standing to the side," Waksal said. "And I said to somebody, 'I know this guy.'"

Eventually, everyone found their tables and the event began and included a video about Ron's life and the many camps he survived.

"They say that I was in the Camp Pionki," Ron said with a smile on his face. "This one guy jumped out from the house and came over to kiss me. 'You're my brother! You’re my brother!'"

That "one guy" was Waksal.

"I went to his table, and I said, 'Sam! You are alive!'" Waksal said.

Waksal had also been an inmate at Pionki, working side by side with Ron. Neither man knew if the other had survived.

The two men hadn’t seen each other in 79 years.

"Oh, I was all excited," Ron said. "This was unusual. It’s 79 years now. We’re 97 years old!"

"You think it’s never going to happen," Waksal said, shaking his head. "But it did happen."

"I met a lot of people before this," Ron said. "But not like this. After 80 years?"

As they talked, the two men realized the similar paths they had taken. Both men came to the United States after the war and both settled in Ohio for years. They then both moved to Florida and then they reunited by chance at a dinner in Boca Raton.

"It's an amazing story. I was so taken by this," Ron said. "It got me a lot of hope. I was very excited about it."

Ron and Waksal have spoken by phone since the dinner and have promised to keep in touch.