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CNN Live At Daybreak

International Wrap, Eye on World

Aired December 23, 2003 - 06:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the amazing reunion of two Holocaust survivors.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us with the details of an amazing story.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, it's the holidays, and I'm sick and tired of talking about Iraq and the war on terror and everything else.

FIRFER: OK, good. Me, too.

CLINCH: An Israeli brother and sister, having both gone to Israel in the 1940s, in 1948 after the second World War, both believing at the time that they were alone in the world, that all of their family had been killed during the war or before the war, reunited this Hanukkah week in Israel, both having, again, lived almost all of their lives now in Israel.

The woman, Shoshana (ph), went -- having been persuaded by a friend, went to the Holocaust Museum in Israel and found there a reference to her family. And in the reference to her family found a note left by an individual, who apparently was also a member of the family, indicating that his name was the same as the name of her brother who she thought was dead.

She made an effort to contact that individual, and it turned out it was her brother. They've now been reunited. They're both in their 70s.

FIRFER: Wow!

CLINCH: They grew up in Poland. She was in Auschwitz, says that she survived Auschwitz when she was pushed out of the line for the gas chamber by an elderly woman, ended up in Burkina, was rescued at the end of the war. He spent the wartime in Russia.

They did not know that they were alive, lived all their lives not too far away from each other, and they've now been reunited in Israel.

FIRFER: That is a neat story.

CLINCH: So, they intend to spend the rest of their lives catching up on each other. So a happy story there.

And also, holiday-related, you know, people have been saying to me all day in the newsroom, "What's our lead on the Iraq story today?" Well, it may be a little bit too early, but the soldiers in Iraq, as you saw earlier in the video we just ran, are getting in the mood for Christmas. They are passing out gifts, as they do every week -- we need to make that clear -- at these orphanages. But they're putting a Christmas theme on it this week.

We've also seen Christmas trees going up at the U.S. bases all over Iraq, preparations for parties. We're getting ready to do some Christmas coverage coming up from Iraq and Afghanistan in the next couple of days.

FIRFER: That's amazing. Love to hear those kinds of stories on the holidays.

CLINCH: Yes.

FIRFER: Thank you so much, David.

CLINCH: OK.

FIRFER: And happy holidays to you, too.

CLINCH: And to you.

FIRFER: All right, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired December 23, 2003 - 06:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the amazing reunion of two Holocaust survivors.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us with the details of an amazing story.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, it's the holidays, and I'm sick and tired of talking about Iraq and the war on terror and everything else.

FIRFER: OK, good. Me, too.

CLINCH: An Israeli brother and sister, having both gone to Israel in the 1940s, in 1948 after the second World War, both believing at the time that they were alone in the world, that all of their family had been killed during the war or before the war, reunited this Hanukkah week in Israel, both having, again, lived almost all of their lives now in Israel.

The woman, Shoshana (ph), went -- having been persuaded by a friend, went to the Holocaust Museum in Israel and found there a reference to her family. And in the reference to her family found a note left by an individual, who apparently was also a member of the family, indicating that his name was the same as the name of her brother who she thought was dead.

She made an effort to contact that individual, and it turned out it was her brother. They've now been reunited. They're both in their 70s.

FIRFER: Wow!

CLINCH: They grew up in Poland. She was in Auschwitz, says that she survived Auschwitz when she was pushed out of the line for the gas chamber by an elderly woman, ended up in Burkina, was rescued at the end of the war. He spent the wartime in Russia.

They did not know that they were alive, lived all their lives not too far away from each other, and they've now been reunited in Israel.

FIRFER: That is a neat story.

CLINCH: So, they intend to spend the rest of their lives catching up on each other. So a happy story there.

And also, holiday-related, you know, people have been saying to me all day in the newsroom, "What's our lead on the Iraq story today?" Well, it may be a little bit too early, but the soldiers in Iraq, as you saw earlier in the video we just ran, are getting in the mood for Christmas. They are passing out gifts, as they do every week -- we need to make that clear -- at these orphanages. But they're putting a Christmas theme on it this week.

We've also seen Christmas trees going up at the U.S. bases all over Iraq, preparations for parties. We're getting ready to do some Christmas coverage coming up from Iraq and Afghanistan in the next couple of days.

FIRFER: That's amazing. Love to hear those kinds of stories on the holidays.

CLINCH: Yes.

FIRFER: Thank you so much, David.

CLINCH: OK.

FIRFER: And happy holidays to you, too.

CLINCH: And to you.

FIRFER: All right, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.