Sometimes it is possible to find the light of love even in the darkest of times. Like Edith Steiner who was just 20 when she barely escaped death while being held at the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Nazis. John Mackay, the then-23-year-old Scottish soldier who saved Edith, is still with her celebrating their 71st Valentine’s Day together.
Edith and her mother were the only remaining members of their family who had not been sent to the gas chambers which meant certain death. But they were saved by a commando team – which Mackay was a part of – that freed a number of Jewish prisoners from the clutches of the Nazis in Poland.
Edith and John met formally for the first time at a dance to celebrate the rescue mission. After plucking up some courage, John asked Edith to dance with him and that’s how their love story began. The two got married on July 17, 1946. They went on to have two children, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. After working as hoteliers for decades, the couple retired and moved to a care facility in Dundee, according to the Daily Mail.
This 14th February will be their 71st Valentine’s Day together.
