Two children taken in by Lena Küchler-Silberman after the Holocaust reunite

In 1942, as thousands of Jews of Wieliczka were deported to Bełżec, Holocaust survivor Lena Küchler-Silberman escaped and made her way to Warsaw, where she lived under an alias and saved children by smuggling them out of the ghetto. After the end of World War II, Lena traveled to the Jewish council in Krakow, where she met young Jewish children who had lost their families. Two of those children were Sara Weinstein née Chait, who was born to Benjamin and Miriam in 1935 in the town of Stepań, Poland (today Ukraine) and Janet Singer Applefield, born in 1935 in Krakow, Poland. Janet's mother and grandmother were murdered in the gas chambers of Belzec and she survived the Holocaust living under a false identity, separated from her father. After Sara's mother was murdered (while holding her) by local villagers, she and her father, a brother and two sisters survived in a forest. However, shorty after liberation, Sara's father was also murdered. On August 28, 1945, Janet’s father wrote to his brother in the United States: “…after 6 terrible years, my daughter … and I are the only miraculously surviving members of our family. No amount of paper would be enough to describe our terrible hardships.” On March 11, they left on a boat for New York City. Sara immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1947, settling in Kibbutz Givat Haim. She tells her life story at schools, to IDF units and to youth groups. She is active in Amcha, a support organization for Holocaust survivors, which she calls her "second home." Janet speaks openly about her experiences as a child survivor of the Holocaust with thousands of people each year through regular speaking engagements with libraries, schools, houses of worship, and government agencies. Her talks raise awareness and understanding of the dangers of prejudice and encourages audiences to stand up to any kind of discrimination and injustice. Through a Claims Conference video for the campaign #OurHolocaustStory, Janet's family saw Sara's story and a connection was made. A zoom hosted by Claims Conference EVP Greg Schneider reintroduced the two survivors who had benefited from Lena's kindness. #HolocaustSurvivor #HolocaustEducation