Hilda Shlick believed her whole family had been murdered in the Holocaust. Like many Holocaust survivors, she was separated from her family and believed herself the only survivor. It wasn’t until many years later, in 2006 when she was 75 years old, that her adult grandchildren decided to investigate their family tree.
They logged onto the Yad Vishem Family Search Database of Shoah Victims and entered her maiden name Hilda Glasberg and her country of origin Romania. To their surprise a Page of Testimony popped up; a document submitted by her older brother believing that she had died in the Holocaust.
They found Hilda’s older brother, Simon Glasberg, was still alive and living in Canada. He had submitted the page in 1999. They discovered two other brothers also survived and died in Canada in 1999 and 2004. Not only that, but her mother and father had survived and died in 1992 and 1998.
It was a miracle. The video shows the incredibly special moment the two siblings reunite for the first time in 65 years; Hilda waits nervously in the airport checking her watch, but the moment her brother appears she recognizes him instantly, and rushes to him.
Her brother had the same rush of emotion “I just couldn’t stop kissing her,” he says. The two embrace and cry tears of joy.
The Chairman of the Yad Vishem Directorate, Avner Shalev, encourages all Jewish families to check and recheck the names of their loved ones in the database.
Watch the video to see the moment Hilda sees Simon for the first time in 65 years!
