TUKWILA, Wash. — Exactly 79 years ago, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp was liberated, where about 1.1 million Jewish people were murdered during World War II. It's why this weekend, International Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed around the world, including locally.
At the Museum of Flight Sunday night, a sold-out event hosted by Seattle's Holocaust Center for Humanity became the backdrop for a reunion of two Holocaust survivors: Maud Dahme and Ingrid Steppic, both in their 80s.
"I knew of her family because there was a long list of people that my parents helped hide during the, during the war," said Steppic.
Dahme and her sister were on that list. They were only children when Steppic's parents helped to hide them from the Nazis.
About five years ago, Steppic set out to find Dahme, and ultimately found she was living in New Jersey. The reunion started with an email.
"She wrote back she said, ‘I remember your father very well,'" said Steppic. "And I'm like-- it was just amazing. That was really amazing.”
As Dahme recalled, a non-Jewish friend who was working with a Nazi resistance group called the Dutch Underground helped connect her and her sister, only six and four years old at the time respectively, to an ally's farm where they could hide.
"I guess maybe they told us we were gonna play hide and go seek," recalled Dahme.
But before getting to the farm, they were able to hide in Steppic's family's home. This, thanks to the compassion and heroism of Steppic's parents.
"It's kind of difficult to remember but I remember being at their house," said Dahme.
Dahme and her sister were two of about 25,000 Jews in hiding out in Holland during the war in the homes of complete strangers. You may recall the story of Anne Frank hiding in the Netherlands. Despite the similarities, her story, they said, was different than most Jewish peoples' stories at that time.
"The whole family hid together. That was totally unusual because, in the first place, people didn't have the space," said Steppic. "Also, that the family stayed together. Usually, the way it happened was like with her: the children were hidden."
The pair of woman had actually never met each other until recently. That's because Steppic was born in 1943, shortly after young Maud's time there with Steppic's siblings.
Still, Ingrid grew up with the stories of Maud, her sister, and the many other Jews they hosted.
A sold-out crowd of nearly 300 people gathered at the museum in Tukwila Sunday. In a presentation called The Rescuer and the Rescued, the event aimed to remind the audience why it is imperative that these atrocities of history must never repeat themselves.
Dahme said she is still moved by their heroism and kindness.
"They opened their arms and their homes to hide people knowing full well that if we were caught, they too, would be taken. So it was it was just, I look back on that now and think how wonderful how people were," said Dahme.
Steppic said her parents helped hide nearly 40 people during the Holocaust, and nearly all of them survived, despite the odds.
Ingrid's father, Jan Kanis, paid a high price for his heroism. She said he eventually was arrested by German soldiers, put in prison and sent to a concentration camp.
For months, they didn't know if he was dead or alive, but after the war ended they learned he had survived.
Both Steppic and Dahme said they hope the memories they shared can serve as a reminder to have compassion.
"And maybe someday we'll have peace on earth," said Dahme. "I hope so."
"Yeah," agreed Steppic.