Holocaust Survivor Reunites With Catholic Family That Kept Her Safe
- Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:01pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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Mary Katz Ehrlich, right, with Egle Ruzgys, a member of the family that hid Katz Ehrlich during the Holocaust. (Photo credit: New York Daily News)
An 83-year-old Holocaust survivor reunited last week with the Catholic family that rescued her and her family, hiding them from the Nazis in Lithuania.
The Thanksgiving reunion was 66 years in the making, but Mary Katz Erlich, now a grandmother of nine, had no trouble recognizing 81-year-old Aurimas Ruzgys or his 83-year-old sister Egle when she met them at the airport.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here and talking to you today if not for them,” Katz Erlich told Boston Fox affiliate WFXT-TV.
Katz Erlich now lives in Massachusetts, but it was in her small Lithuanian town when she was a little girl where she first met the Ruzgys family. According to the New York Daily News, she and her mother and father sought shelter with the family — who were patrons at her father’s store — after her brother was murdered.
Leokadija Ruzgys, a widow and mother of three, hid them for three years in a small room where she stored potatoes and in a smokehouse out back.
“They took us in and she said a couple of days, then a couple of days turned into a couple of weeks,” Katz Erlich said. “Then a couple of weeks and then she said that’s about it, I can’t do it anymore. It’s a risk.”
Lithuania was filled with Nazi collaborators who helped hunt down Jews, and being discovered would mean death for both families.
“The kids started to cry as soon as we went over the threshold,” Katz Erlich said. “She said I can‘t let you go because I know you won’t survive for one day.”
Katz Erlich said she was allowed to play outside with the other children just one time during the three years, and said she still remembers the feeling of the sunshine on her face. A neighbor eventually turned them in, though when a mob came for them, the third Ruzgys sibling — who died several years ago — lied and said no Jews were living there. For that, she was beaten.
Leokadija Ruzgys and the Katz family were taken to a nearby jail, but because the war was ending they were released six months later, when the Soviets invaded.
They met again when they were released.
“She was waiting for us at the gate to stay at her house,” Katz Erlich said of Leokadija Ruzgys.
Katz Erlich emigrated to the U.S. but the families kept in touch for years. The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous arranged for the only three surviving members to finally meet again, to spend Thanksgiving together.
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OhSnappage
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 12:39amWe need to her more of these stories. =)
Report Post »65Plus
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 4:03pmThe Military Channel has a gruesome series called “Nazi Collaborators.” Especially the one on the Latvian Commando group is particularly chilling, even shocked the Germans at the time. Don’t know when they will get to Lithuania, but expect a similar treatment of Jews. What a wonderful end – all these fine people who just did what was right.
Report Post »Embrace Liberty
Posted on November 29, 2011 at 11:23pmThank you for sharing the Military History Channel’s series on Nazi Collaborators. They will not be doing an episode on Lithuania, but they will be covering the Balkans, which was also incredibly brutal. It even shocked the Germans, which says a lot.
Report Post »kalayaan
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 4:11amWow!!!…this is an amazing story…
Report Post »Pro-Palin
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 2:53ama wonderful story of light in the darkness.
Report Post »philipzhao
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 9:46pmAnother Corrie TenBoom !
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 8:56pmWhat an amazing, beautiful story! Look at what miracles the power of the love of God provides! This type of Godly Love, Agape, is what is needed in our world today. Lord, God, please open our hearts to Your love, for what is coming. God bless these two families impacted by one of the most horrendous, satanic acts of hatred ever committed by evil against humanity. Let us never forget, lest we allow it to happen again.
Report Post »Embrace Liberty
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 8:45pmConsidering the extreme anti-Semitism of Lithuania and most of the Baltic region, it is a miracle that she survived. The chances of making it out alive from the Nazi charnel house were minuscule at best. If you had children you were pretty much doomed. The sad fact is that at least 95% of the pre-war Lithuanian Jewish population died mostly by Einsatzgruppen A and their Lithuanian collaborators. This is an area that has not received the attention that it and its victims deserve. Consider that 1.5 million Human beings of the Jewish faith were murdered by the four Einsatzgruppen and those that assisted them in the Eastern Territories of Europe during Hitler’s drive into the Soviet Union. This meant that someone had to hold a gun and fire it at men, women, children, and infants. Bullet after bullet shot into all these innocent people by people who volunteered for the duty in most cases. Camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen get tons of attention, but not much is given to this overlooked chapter of World War II.
Report Post »The Ruzgys family is an example of righteousness and light in an increasingly dark world. You are a beacon to us all. God Bless you.
Bakko Bomma
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 6:53pmWas there before or after the Pope was in cahoots with the Nazis?
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:26pmGood point
Report Post »I grow tired of the people that have taken over since the late 1800s, more especially 1991. Yeah most of them have Russian heritage
Susycat
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:54pmWhat does that have to do with this story? Go crawl back under the rock you came from.
Report Post »bonniebef
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 8:35pmI don’t think you should make comments you know nothing about. If people who listen to glen hate Catholics maybe I shouldn’t be envoled with this site.
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 8:41pmbakko- You don’t know what you are talking about. What an odd thing to say in response to such a beautiful story.
Report Post »Bermuda Onion
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 8:48pmI see Bakko has not evolved from the monkey he portraits himself to be. He is thinking as a monkey and talking as a monkey.
Report Post »JimLA
Posted on December 31, 2011 at 3:08amI see you can take anything and everything and attempt to place your brand of darkness on it.
Report Post »JimLA
Posted on December 31, 2011 at 3:14amBakko Bomma, I see you can take anything and place your brand of darkness on it. Is that your picture, probably is a good resemblance. Have you learned to walk upright yet?
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 6:46pmNotice that the propaganda is fourfold in the waning years of WWII vets and holocaust survivors.
Report Post »Progressives are mostly children and young adults with little or no moral compass. This combined with the lack of presence of the people who can tell the tales, show the scars and relive the nightmare for the benefit of their malleable minds suits the socialist power brokers plans for a population of maladjusted, unhappy, infantile, insectlike, parental scourges to voice the falsities of the democrat party line. I’ve known and have been befriended by Burgen Belsen and Auschwitz survivors. They are the specific reason I value freedom as the ultimate gift of the myriad treasures that we enjoy in America. Those who deny the tragedy will be in no position to return to comfort under the control of their seemingly benevolent overlords once said masters clumsy plans are complete.
NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:28pmYOur freedom was brought to you by the Protestant Americans from the 1600s mainly my family
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:52pmMY family is Native American.
Report Post »cannon12pdr
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 6:33pmI wish the ALMIGHTY would grant the same for those wanting to kill his people.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:29pmCarefull, the BIBLE says it will come back on you
Report Post »Tex Expatriate
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 6:00pmIt’s depressing in capital letters to read the comments preceding mine. So many American commentors right here on Blaze display a total ignorance of American and European history, of Judaism, of the Middle East conflict, and an unawareness of their own anti-semitism. Where did they ingest that? In America’s government schools, which once were genuine public schools and educational complexes, but now are merely leftist propaganda agencies? I must suppose so.
Report Post »Bakko Bomma
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 6:52pmWhere did they ingest that? The New Testament of course.
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:07pmI know what you mean,our public schools and colleges are rife with progressives indoctrinating kids with anti-semitic propaganda.And this is the result of their perverted revisionist history they’ve presented as the truth.History is repeating itself and we’re witnessing it right now,Muslims will work with communists and progressives to reach their goals,then turn on each other.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:31pmIN response, our public schools and colleges are rife with progressives indoctrinating kids against Protestant Christian America
Report Post »hopetochange2012
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 8:03pmPlease take heart. We who know the truth are “out here,” educating our children. As a Christian, I have thought that we Christians have been persecuted, and still are.
The Jews, among whom I count my Savior, have suffered — proportionately — more. Millions upon millions murdered — sometimes by pagans, often by Muslims, and often at the hands of sinners who were baptized Christians but bring nothing but shame upon all of us. Of course, there is evil astray throughout history, and throughout the world; but never moreso, it seems, than in the 20th Century, and most especially in the Holocaust of the Jews.
We will remember. Always.
Report Post »wzanesdad
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:56pmThen come back and tell me how return on investment does not apply here.
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 6:30pmwe pay give israel money.
AIPAC uses that money to lobby our politicians.
all intel gained from israel is only pertinent to THEIR enemies.
btw, can you name 1 country we have been at war with (you know, the constitutional kind, declared by congress) since WW2 that posed ANY threat to the USA?
president eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex. maybe we should heed his warnings…
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:34pmDont forget the Israeli crime Inc gets our money before it is distributed. I have studied a lot lately since Israel has come into a greater danger only to find they are a danger to us and their people as far as gangsters
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:37pmPoliticians, Business and profits is the whole problem
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 9:39pmBR@DLEY
Dear Congressman Paul:
Report Post »Your Presidential campaign has drawn the enthusiastic support of an imposing collection of Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, Holocaust Deniers, 9/11 “Truthers” and other paranoid and discredited conspiracists.
Do you welcome- or repudiate – the support of such factions?
More specifically, your columns have been featured for several years in the American Free Press -a publication of the nation’s leading Holocaust Denier and anti-Semitic agitator, Willis Carto. His book club even recommends works that glorify the Nazi SS, and glowingly describe the “comforts and amenities” provided for inmates of Auschwitz.
Have your columns appeared in the American Free Press with your knowledge and approval?
As a Presidential candidate, will you now disassociate yourself, clearly and publicly, from the poisonous propaganda promoted in such publications?
As a guest on my syndicated radio show, you answered my questions directly and fearlessly.
Will you now answer these pressing questions, and eliminate all associations between your campaign and some of the most loathsome fringe groups in American society?
Along with my listeners (and many of your own supporters), I eagerly await your response.
Respectfully, Michael Medved
Medved has received no official response from the Paul campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY01Lpg5kqw
Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 10:14pmOH! the racist card. nice, just like a moron leftist. GOOD JOB SIR!
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 7:44am@ noroom….
Report Post »Politicians, business and profits is the whole problem……. In a nutshell it would seem.
With the emphasis on Nut.
wzanesdad
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:51pmWhen you get in there, click on isreals world contribution.
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:54pmhaha!
from the article “Dispatch From Jerusalem”
i’m sure that is 100% objective. RIGHT….
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:35pmWell Broadley what is the truth then?
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:51pmwe send israel billions every year. we have been doing so since their inception.
Report Post »we support their every action, even terrorism. while “palestine” uses terrorism, so does israel. and it is 100% state sponsored.
they torpedoed the uss liberty AFTER an airforce flyover confirming the identity of the ship.
our support of their EVERY action is one of the explicitly listed reasons why we were attacked on 9-11.
there’s plenty more, but maybe you should “do your own homework”…
Fla Del
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:29pmAmadanutjob has said over and over again. All Jews must be removed from the face of the earth. Israel has extended the hand of peace over and over again to all their neighbors. They have been refused over and over again. The only way to peace is for the Jews to run away and let them have the land. After the Jews have been killed the USA is next.
Report Post »Fla Del
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:23pmWe are going to war with Iran because Israel has extened the hand of peace over and over again. Iran has refused it, over and over again. Ahmanutjob has said over and ovrer again that all Jews must be removed from the face of the earth. After the Jews are gone we are next.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:38pmMore Jews here than anywhere so look out
Report Post »grownup
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:13pmBR@DLEY your ignorance overwhelms me. You are obviously a tv addict educated in lousy public schools. You do not know how or are too lazy to do research and educate yourself. There is a very good chance you abuse drugs and or alcohol. Probably have other addictions as well. Please seek help.
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:22pmwow, your name belies your sentiment.
grow up sir.
Report Post »YepImaConservative
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:13pm>GROWNUP.
BR@TLY supports Ron Paul for President. Your drug assessment is probably correct. He’s pro-drug and pro-addiction. lol.
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:22pmyeah, you sound like a liberal.
if you want to discuss policy, i’m sure i can belittle you handily. it seems, however, you are content with finger pointing and name calling. infantile. then again, i would expect no less from a neocon.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:03pmEliasim is like a snake that roams about, slithering in the grass until he/she happens upon an ankle close enough to strike. AKA he/she is an atheist blogger who has nothing better to do than take a good, heartwarming story – twist it till he feels better about his empty life.
Report Post »alrunner58
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:54pmIt is people like that are true heros. Loved the story.
Report Post »Joshua7
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:45pmIt’s nice to see these stories once in a while. A lot of people don’t think about WWII and the Holocuast anymore but these people here lived through it.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:40pmSO! My family has been in every war this nation has had
Report Post »jcannon98188
Posted on November 28, 2011 at 3:37pm@Noroom
If that is true sir. you are a disgrace to your families name. You sit here and try and claim that YOUR family did everything, that it is because of THEM that America has freedom. That THEY died and fought in wars. What did YOU do? Nothing. Stop trying to get glory because of something your family did, because what THEY did they did NOT do for Glory.
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:42pmWell do we have more stories like this in our future you know like repeating history,i sure hope not as im sure that would really really suck……………
Report Post »Twinspeedr
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:24pmSorry for the duplicate post. The Blaze has issues sometimes on the Firefox browser.
Report Post »godlovinmom
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:23pmWhat a beautiful story.
Report Post »Jennifer_D
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 8:28pmI agree. This is such a wonderful story
Report Post »TERIPA
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:18pmBeautiful story.
And.. to think… that the evil in the world, today, is worse enough that the Son of God would return to save us again, and bring everyone back to Jesus, and to the way of truth!
Dear Jesus, Mercy.
http://www.thewarningSecondComing.com
JMJ
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:21pmJesus can only take those who are willing. That’s why it is the meek and righteous in spirit who are willing. That’s why the Lord is called “The Lord of Hosts”, because he forces no one. Most people are like that Samaritan woman.
Report Post »TERIPA
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:27pmIt’s a gift of Divine Mercy, that each and every soul, will have that chance to say, yes.
Pray for the meek. Pray for the hardened hearts. Pray for the evil.
Read the Messages: http://www.thewarningSecondComing.com
JMJ
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:15pmAtrocities would be much, much, much more unlikely to happen if all people would just be like a child and admit to themselves that they are all wrong about religion. And then they could all relearn on a massive scale. Oh yeah, but there would be less profit in it for the snakes of the world if that was to happen.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:18pmPeople’s stubbornness will lead to WW3.
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:43pmJust a few people are the cause of most of the problems and that usually in the form of an “ism” like Marxism
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:03pmGood people do Good regardless of Faith… and the same applies to Evil!
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:12pmi wonder why glenn beck is so obsessed with israel and jewish folks…
Report Post »Twinspeedr
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:17pmGod’s law is written on the hearts of each of us. Some try to obey it and make sacrifices for others. Others willfully ignore it in relentless pursuit of personal gain at the expense of others. Most of us are somewhere in the middle most of the time. Let‘s hope that more of us will step up and do what’s right during the coming crisis than the few that did so in Europe during WWII.
Report Post »rckuner
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:18pmBr@dley: You’re kidding, right?
Report Post »Johnny916
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:20pmI agree with Luke. @ Br@dley: the reason Glenn Beck and many Christians are obsessed with Jews is because they want to convert the Jews to Christianity.
Report Post »Twinspeedr
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:23pmGod’s law is written on our hearts. Some people obey it and make sacrifices for others. Some willfully ignore it in relentless pursuit of personal gain. The best that most of us can claim is somewhere in the middle. Let’s hope that more of us step up and do the right thing during the coming crisis than the few that did so in Europe during WWII.
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:27pmno, i’m not kidding. is his program underwritten by AIPAC or something? i mean, israel has done NOTHING for the usa, and i believe he’s mormon right? so what’s the deal?
Report Post »godlovinmom
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 4:46pmSo in order for you to help someone…you have to get something first…if that is the case my friend, you will never get it.
Report Post »Br@dley
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:01pmno, israel torpedoes the uss liberty.
israel has been in receipt of billions of US dollars every year.
israel provokes violence in the middle east.
WE ARE GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN BECAUSE ISRAEL DOESN”T LIKE THEM.
i am a capitalist. i believe in return on investment is all.
Report Post »wzanesdad
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 5:48pmBradley, go check out this sie. As a capitolist, yo should see what good Isreal has been t us and the world. http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/israels-world...
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on November 27, 2011 at 7:45pmNOT true Lucker. Morals are only obtained through God, man cannot create good on his own and thats a period!
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