Reunited after 70 years

A malfunctioning gas chamber shower head saved the lives of three women from Munkacs, Czechoslovakia, in May 1945 at Auschwitz, one of several Nazi concentration camps. Shortly after their brush with death, Auschwitz was liberated by Allied forces.
Seventy years later, on Nov. 17, Rachel Gleitman, 92, of Lawrence, and cousins Eva Ebin, 88, and Vera Eden, 87, both of North Shore Towers in Floral Park, reunited at an event sponsored by the Marion and Aaron Gural Jewish Community Center in Cedarhurst. Two days later, the women joined nearly 100 other Holocaust survivors at the 18th annual Thanksgiving luncheon at the JCC. They said they were thankful for their survival, for families and for friendship.
“It is a miracle that we all three survived,” Gleitman said. “It’s even more so that we found each other and reconnected. Eva was telling her story of survival in an interview that was recorded for us personally, and then picked up by the Garden City Holocaust Museum, as mine was. Eva’s interviewer, Brad Zarkin, also recorded mine, and he realized we shared a similar story.”
Zarkin said he has recorded more than 1,600 interviews since 2005. “I called survivors on the telephone and digitized the interviews I did,” he said. “I spoke with Rachel and Eva, as there was talk about creating a book. I did this all for free, based on a list of survivors I’d found. Many survivors I’d spoken with, including Rachel, had never been interviewed by anyone else conducting Holocaust interviews.”
Zarkin and Ebin’s daughter, Susie Thalheim, of Woodmere, arranged for the three women to meet. “We couldn’t believe it,” Thalheim said. “How amazing it is that they survived and met, after all these years.”

Cathy Byrne, associate executive director of the JCC, said the celebration each year is a “very special and moving” Thanksgiving. “We are a second family to our Holocaust survivors,” she said. “We’re considered a safe haven and surrogate family to them. It’s becoming more pressing for their stories to be heard, as a lot of the terrorism going on in the world has reignited a lot of post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma in our survivors. This is why we must continue to care so much for them and honor them.”
Another survivor, Laura Greenbaum, of Lawrence, said she attended the Thanksgiving celebration because she is thankful to be alive. “I lost my sister and most of my family and friends in the concentration camp,” she said. “Now, I am happy. I have two children, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild. I’m very lucky.”
At the luncheon, there was a pause to count blessings, a greeting from the JCC’s new president, Craig Spatz, who gave a brief update on the program’s progress and developments, and a Thanksgiving speech by Rabbi Kenneth Hain.
“For thousands of years, we’ve given thanks every single day,” Hain said. “Without turkey or a bagel, every day is Thanksgiving Day. No other group of people feels that more than you do. You’re alive every single day. It’s embedded in our identity. The very identity of a Jew is to be thankful, as it’s even in our name.”
The survivors and invited guests, including students from the Shulamith School for Girls, in Cedarhurst, filled the dance floor and danced to both traditional and modern Jewish and American music.
Laura Friedman, 13, of North Woodmere, attended the luncheon, dancing and singing with the survivors. “I’m having a great time celebrating with them,” said the Shulamith eighth-grader. “I’m thankful they’re here.”