Holocaust survivor salutes American soldier who liberated him from Nazi concentration camp hell in emotional reunion after 70 years
This is the poignant moment when a man rescued from the hell he endured at the hands of the Nazis met his saviour and gave him a salute almost 70 years later.
Joshua Kaufman first saluted his rescuer Daniel Gillespie. Then he kissed his hand and finally, he fell to his feet, exclaiming: βI have wanted to do this for 70 years. I love you, I love you so muchβ¦β.
Kaufman, now 87, was a βwalking corpseβ on April 29Β 1945 when U.S. Army soldier Gillespie, 89, marched in with his comrades to liberate the charnel house that was the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.
By the time it was liberated more than 35,000 people had been murdered there - in executions, in cruel medical experiments, starved, worked and beaten to death.
The first person he saw was Hungarian Jewish prisoner Kaufman. He was hiding in the latrines with other prisoners, uncertain if the soldiers who arrived were liberators or a Nazi death squad sent to liquidate the camp.
'We were confined to barracks by the guards. This meant most of us were marked for death,' Mr Kaufman said.Β
'Then I saw the white flag flying from the watchtower and I realised then that the torture was at an end. When the Americans smashed in the door, my heart did somersaults.'
Gillespie helped the emaciated prisoner into the daylight and back into the land of the living. Both parted with tears in their eyes - both believed they would never see one another again.
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