It was 65 years in the making, but a Holocaust survivor finally got a chance to personally thank the Polish rabbit farmer who saved her life in World War II, in an emotional, tear-filled reunion at Kennedy Airport yesterday.
“This is a double Thanksgiving. He helped me endure and he helped save my life,” said Sara Marmurek, 88.
She greeted her savior, Wladslaw Misiuna, who arrived from Warsaw, with flowers and a hug.
“I am so joyful, I would like to go to a club and dance with her but I can’t because of my legs,” the 85-year- old hero said, motioning to his cane.
In 1943, a teen Misiuna assigned to raising rabbits to feed workers and German soldiers at an arms factory in eastern Poland.
Marmurek had been sent to the same facility as a slave laborer.
Appalled at the treatment of Jews, Misiuna requested that Marmurek and four young Jewish women work with him.
He sneaked them food and medicine. All of the women he helped survived the war — but he almost didn’t. The Nazis caught him helping Jews, and sentenced him to death, but he fled.
The tearful meeting was arranged by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, a charity that recognizes gentiles who risked their lives to help Jews. Among other things, the group provides them financial support.