This photo was taken recently, while I was visiting Israel with my wife Katarina.
While we were there, we met with my friends from childhood who live today in Israel. The photo was taken while we were in Netanya.
I am the in center, and next to me is my wife Katarina. Standing next to me on the other side is my friend Eugen Cajzler, and next to him is his wife, she is Israeli. This was the first time that we met after the war was over.
All three of use were in concentration camps, and we went through the same terrible and horrifying traumas.
This meeting was particularly emotional since it was the first time that we met after these events, and even more emotional because it was in Israel that we met.
My friend Eugen Cajzler was from a mixed marriage. His father was Jewish, and his mother was Catholic. She could have stayed in Cakovec had she wanted to and they wouldn't have taken her. But, she didn't want to leave her husband and her two sons, Eugen and Picko, so she went with them.
Eugen was a bit older, so once he arrived to the camp, he was put into forced labor. And he endured it, he survived. However, both his parents and his brother died.
Had the mother stayed, she could have survived. After Eugen came back, he was all alone. Today he lives in Israel.
