08/16/2025
The historical image captures the reunion of Holocaust survivors Tova Friedman, Sarah Ludwig, and Michael Bornstein, holding a photograph taken by a Soviet soldier during Auschwitz’s liberation in 1945. In January 1945, the original photo showed children recently freed from Auschwitz, their tattooed numbers stark against their arms, faces marked by horror and lost innocence. Among them were Tova, Sarah, and Mike—strangers then, yet bound by the same ordeal. After the war, each emigrated and eventually settled in New Jersey, unknowingly close to one another. Decades later, Tova recognized the photograph in a Yad Vashem documentary and sought the identities of the children beside her. She later discovered that the girl next to her, Sarah Ludwig, had been her grandchildren’s first-grade teacher. In 2017, the three reunited to recreate the photo—not as victims, but as living witnesses. This reunion, more than 70 years later, stands as a testament to resilience and a solemn reminder that their suffering and survival must never be forgotten.
~ The Two Pennies
