>>> WELCOME BACK. >>> WELCOME BACK. TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY. AS WE REFLECT ON THE ATROCITIES OF THAT TIME, WE ARE ALSO RESILIENCE OF THE SURVIVORS. >> ONE OF THE SURVIVORS IS IN HER 80s NOW BUT STILL HAS CLEAR MEMORIES OF LIVING IN A DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP IN AUSTRIA AS A CHILD. WELL, DURING THE PANDEMIC, RUTH RECEIVED THE SURPRISE OF A LIFETIME, WITH NOT JUST ONE BUT TWO LIFE-CHANGING REUNIONS. >> AT NIGHTTIME, THEY WERE TRAVELING. DAYTIME, WE STOPPED, SO THE NAZIS WOULDN’T GET US. >> Reporter: AT 2 YEARS OLD, RUTH AND HER FAMILY FLED THEIR HOME IN POLAND. >> MY UNCLE HAD A BIG TRUCK, AND HE SAID TO MY MOTHER, JUST PICK UP WHATEVER YOU NEED FOR YOUR CHILD BECAUSE THE NAZIS ARE RIGHT BEHIND US. >> Reporter: MIRACULOUSLY, THEY SURVIVED. 1945, RUTH’S FAMILY MADE IT TO A DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP IN AUSTRIA. >> WE MET THIS FAMILY WITH SASHA. HE WAS, LIKE, FOUR YEARS YOUNGER THAN I WAS. >> Reporter: SASHA AND RUTH BECOMING FAST FRIENDS, PLAYING TOGETHER FOR YEARS, UNTIL THEY FOUND SAFER PLACES TO CALL HOME. RUTH IN AMERICA, AND SASHA IN ISRAEL. WERE YOU ALWAYS THINKING ABOUT THE FRIENDS YOU’D LEFT BEHIND, ESPECIALLY SASHA? >> SURE DID. WE ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT IT WITH MY PARENTS. I WAS THE ONLY CHILD, SO THEY WERE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT SASHA. >> Reporter: BUT 71 YEARS LATER, A CHANCE MENTION DURING A VIRTUAL YAMAKA KOPPOR SERVICE LE TO ANOTHER ENCOUNTER. >> WITH THIS VIRUS, OUR SYNAGOGUE WAS CLOSED. THE ONLY ONE I COULD LISTEN TO IS TO MY SON’S. THE BROTHER WAS CALLING OUT NAMES. I USUALLY WALK AWAY FROM THAT PART, BUT NOT THIS TIME. I DON’T KNOW WHY. IT’S DESTINY. IT’S DESTINY. I JUST LISTENED TO THE WHOLE THING, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE RABBI SAID, SASHA EISENBERG. >> Reporter: TURNS OUT, SASHA EISENBERG NOT ONLY ATTENDED RUTH’S SON’S SYNAGOGUE, HE LIVED LESS THAN 60 MILES AWAY. >> LARRY, MY SON, CALLED HIM AND SAID, DO YOU REMEMBER REGINA? HE SAID, OF COURSE I DO. MY GOD. THEN HE CALLED ME, AND BOTH OF US, BOTH OF US ARE CRYING ON THE PHONE. 71 YEARS. IT FELT LIKE IT JUST HAPPENED YESTERDAY. >> Reporter: A MONTH LATER, SASHA AND RUTH DECIDED TO REUNITE IN PERSON. >> WE COULD NOT HUG, AND THAT WAS THE WORST THING. WE WERE CRYING. IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL DAY. >> Reporter: WHAT ARE THE ODDS, DO YOU THINK? >> I WOULD LIKE TO BET ON THIS, IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN. EVENTS OCCUR WITHOUT YOU REALIZING THAT SOMEBODY PLANNED IT, AND IT HAPPENED, JUST HAPPENED TO THE BENEFIT OF BOTH. >> Reporter: LITTLE DID RUTH OR SASHA KNOW THAT THEIR REUNION WAS JUST THE BEGINNING. >> I SAID, WOW, I JUST FOUND MY FIRST GIRLFRIEND. I WAS JUMPING AROUND AND DANCING. IT WAS JUST A REMARKABLE DAY. >> Reporter: A FEW STATES AWAY IN OHIO, IRA READ ABOUT THEIR REUNION AND REALIZED HE HAD BEEN AT THE SAME DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP, AND RUTH WAS HIS FIRST LOVE. >> I KEPT THINKING A LOT ABOUT HER. YOU KNOW, WONDERING. NEVER FOUND EACH OTHER. YEARS JUST KEPT GOING ON. FIRST LOVE, YOU KNOW, YOU KIND OF REMEMBER THAT. >> Reporter: IRA AND RUTH REUNITED VIRTUALLY, WITH THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN PRESENT. >> I KEPT THINKING ABOUT YOU FOR A LONG TIME, YOU KNOW. >> REALLY? >> YEAH, YEAH. I HAD THE HOTS FOR YOU. >> Reporter: RUTH, THERE IS A SPECIAL MEMENTO YOU HELD ON TO ALL THESE YEARS. >> HER INITIALS WERE ON THE HANDKERCHIEF. I HAD A SPECIAL BOX I HAD BUILT, AND I PUT ALL MY TREASURES IN THAT. THAT’S WHERE IT WAS FOR 70 YEARS. >> YOU KNOW WHAT, I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER GIVING IT TO HIM. >> Reporter: NOW, RUTH AND IRA SPEAK AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK, REMINISCING AND CELEBRATING THEIR RENEWED FRIENDSHIP. >> THE BEST PART IS TO FIND MY DEAR FRIENDS. THEY’VE BECOME LIKE FAMILY. IT’S UNBELIEVABLE THAT THESE TWO FRIENDS OF MINE ARE ALIVE, AND I CAN TALK TO THEM. >> I THINK THE BEST PART IS TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE SURVIVED IN SPITE OF HARDSHIP AND REGAINED STRENGTH. AND AS LONG AS THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS HOPE. THEY BUILT A NEW LIFE OR RENEWED THE MEMORY. >> WOW. WHAT A STORY. >> YOU KNOW, I’M STILL SMILING ABOUT IT. SASHA AND IRA ACTUALLY NEVER KNEW EACH OTHER DURING THEIR TIME IN THE DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP, BEING A FEW YEARS APART IN AGE. NOW, THEY DISCOVERED THROUGH THEIR MUTUAL FRIEND, RUTH. YOU HAVE THIS GREAT FRIENDSHIP, THIS FRIENDSHIP TRIANGLE. >> I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL COVID GOES AWAY, AND THEY CAN ACTUALLY MEET IN PERSON. GIVE EACH OTHER THE HUG. >> RIGHT. >> CAN WE ASK TO BE THERE FOR THAT REUNION? THEY HAVE THINGS IN COMMON AND THINGS THEY CAN SHARE ABOUT
