I'm Sara Wendell. Welcome to lovestruck daily, where we deliver a love story every single day straight to your headphones and today is absolutely no exception. I'm in love with you. Today
I'm going to be sharing a story that proves love can be found even in the darkest of times and the hardest of circumstances. Are you ready? Let's go. I would like to tell you about Siggy and Honka, Seagrove, Siggy and Hunka. We're in a concentration camp called cesta whova In Poland during the Holocaust, and they spent most of their adolescence there. And according to an interview with them from 2016, on ABC, Australia, done by Margaret birren, they first set eyes on each other as teenagers on New Year's Eve in 1944. Spoiler alert 18 days later, the camp was liberated. Siggy said, I lost my mind. According to his memoir, he had gone into the barracks with the other men, which was usually not allowed, but it was New Year's Eve. And they were all singing someone started singing and the whole group started singing and he looked around and he saw a pair of brown eyes on Hunka. And he said the whole world was turning around me and I saw a pair of beautiful eyes. I heard bells ringing. This beautiful eyes were looking at me with a smile like I had never seen in my life. And they weren't supposed to be in the barracks, they had to leave, they only talked for a few minutes. And then he kissed her on the cheek before heading back to his barrack. And Hunka remembers holding on to her cheek afterward wanting to save that kiss against her face. What struck Honka about Siggy was that he was very much himself. After so many years in a concentration camp, a lot of people were understandably shadows of their former selves. And Hunka said he was very gentle. Just a few days after meeting Siggy had to go into hiding because his job had been to make bullets for the Gestapo. And he did it wrong. On purpose. They were too small, and they didn't work. And he got caught. Very dangerous. Yes, very dangerous, heroic, but dangerous, deeply brave. So the only person that he tells is Honka. And he hides in a pit and he tells her where he is hiding. And she is the only one who knows. And he said she was the only person I could trust my life with. Wow Honka risked her life to keep him alive. She brought him food once a day. And she brought him a blanket that she had made from scraps in the barracks to keep him warm. And the temperatures at this point were negative 15. One night, she came back for a second visit, which never happened. And she didn't have anything with her. Her arms were outstretched and she greeted him with the news. We are free. They've come and we are free and the camp was liberated. Now, you've been through all of this. You're in this terrible, terrible situation. Your world has been decimated. What do you do? Well, they got married the next day. Their wedding was witnessed by the people who were left left in the camp. And 50 years later, they had emigrated to Australia. And on their 50th anniversary, they had another wedding in their daughter's backyard. And the other people who had been with them in the camp who are still alive came to the wedding to be their witnesses. They were married for more than 70 years. And the pictures from the ABC article in Australia are truly gorgeous. They loved each other so very, very much. In fact, they purchased burial plots so that they could be buried side by side and the inscription on the headstone reads We are inviting the souls of our exterminated family to rest in our grave. Ziggy is you know live have blessed memory died in 2019 at the age of 95. And he said we have achieved a lot. We've got so many grandchildren and great grandchildren. This story makes me think of the Jewish wedding custom of breaking a glass Have you heard of
I have heard of this? Yes, but I don't really know the significance. So please tell me. I'd love to learn.
Okay, well, the general rule with all things Jewish is that for every five Jewish people, you have 25 opinions So I cannot speak for all the Jewish people. But I can tell you, I can tell you, you can only speak for yourself, I can only speak for myself in the HIPAA, which is the the canopy that symbolizes the home and it's open on all four sides. The wedding happens inside the HIPAA with everyone as witnesses. And at the end, you break a glass. Sometimes it's a light bulb, so it makes a big pop. Sometimes it's a special glass, it's not tempered, but you break a glass. And there are many, many interpretations as to why you break a glass, some traditional modern, my preferred meaning and my preferred interpretation is that when there is joy, there is always sorrow. But when there is sorrow, there is always love. And so my takeaway for this episode is that history is important. There are always stories of love in history. And love is always worth preserving.
And sometimes it's the only thing worth preserving.
Very, very true. There is a prayer that Jewish people say at moments of great importance, or of great significance. It's called the chef piano. And it translates roughly to thank you for enabling me to reach this moment to be present in this moment. So if you are present in this moment, make sure that you take a moment for yourself to find out the history of love that's around you. Alicia, have you ever asked the members of your family, their own love stories, how they met?
Oh, for sure. I was very lucky in that my grandmother lived with us when I was growing up. And I didn't really have to ask, she just told us all the time she was even Yes, she was very, very committed to making sure that the stories of her generation got passed down. And I never met my grandfather, he died about four years into their marriage. So she barely knew my grandfather. And I can tell you, he died when she was in her 20s She was lived to 93. And his name was the last name that she uttered when she died. Today, if she'd lived, she would have been 100 years old this year. So this would have been her because she was born in 1922. And I remember when she passed away, I was so sad. And I was like, Oh, she died at 93. And I thought oh, like so many things. She's going to miss that that are so cool that she would have loved. And I sort of went back and I made a list of all the things she had seen, like the terrible things and the wonderful things. And somehow that comforted me a little bit knowing that she had lives such a long and full life. And she'd had terrible tragedy in her life. You know, her husband died when she was young, she had to raise two young girls as a widow in 1940s, India. But she also had a lot of joy in her life. And I think living with us gave her a lot of joy too. So yeah, very important to ask your elders, what their story is, and the stories of people maybe you don't even know or that you never got to meet, because it's so important for you to be able to take those memories and pass them on to the next generation.
And it's also kind of magical, if you think about it, to ask somebody, how did you meet some of the most important people in your life because so very often, it's a moment of great chance, such chance that one left turn instead of a right and your life would have been different? Absolutely. And that magic is always worth preserving that moment, even when that moment happens in the darkest of times, the moment where you find someone who loves you, that's worth preserving, especially in passing on, like you said, to make sure that right that history is known. I mean, it's not terribly romantic for me to say, Well, my husband and I met in Spanish class because I did not like Latin. But my kids love to hear about the time when I met this really young guy who had a massive mullet and I had that moment of oh,
well. And then they're gonna tell their kids like, and they're gonna say, Well, what if one of them had taken French instead of Spanish would have never met? So yes, yeah, it's it's so important that they they have those memories. And then, you know, after you're gone, all you have are those memories. Yeah. And I think about my grandmother, the memory of my grandfather sustained her. And it also seemed all of us it's a gift that love just keeps on giving.
One thing that is very common in Jewish culture, when someone dies, is to say, may their memory be for a blessing or may their memory be a blessing? And I also think the stories of the people who love you are a blessing as well. So as we move into our love to go our takeaway from this episode, I want to encourage you to remember that your history is very important. And maybe ask the elders in your life about the people they love and how they met. There are always so many stories of love in history and love is always worth preserving and passing along. Thank you for listening to lovestruck daily, it is an honor to hang out with you and keep you company. If you have a love story that you would like to share. Please tell us at lovestruck daily at Frolik dot media or if you have any questions or thoughts we would love to hear from you. You can follow us on Instagram at lovestruck daily and on Twitter. Please leave a review subscribe and tell your friends we would love to spread a little love into everyone's day. Our researcher is Jesse Epstein. Our editor is Jen Jacobs. Our producer is Abigail Steckler and little Scorpion studios. Our behind the scenes Hatcher of plans is Gillian Davis and we are executive produced by Frolik media I'm in love with the same to you. Good to see you. With you. I'm in love with you