ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — As the number of living Holocaust survivors continues to decline, efforts to preserve their stories have never been more important. On Thursday, the Jewish Family Services of Northeastern New York honored local survivors on International Holocaust Survivors Day and shared powerful stories of survival, resilience and hope.
Some of these survivors were as young as 5 years old during the Holocaust. NEWS10’s Tyanna Xavier spoke with Ivan Vamos, a survivor, who shared what he and his mother endured during that time.
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While living in Budapest, Hungary, his father was sent to a forced labor unit with the Hungarian army. At one point, the entire unit was believed to have been killed by accident, until Vamos began hearing the reality around what happened.
“When I was listening to the different, the other young mothers talking to each other, the little kids were using words like ‘Meggyilkolták:’ ‘They were murdered,’” said Vamos…