World War II brought pain and sadness, but it also brought amazing love stories, like the one Isroe tells.
The love story of the Scottish soldier John Mackay and the Jewish girl Edith Steiner, who was freed from a Nazi death camp by another Jewish girl, would make a good movie. Young people met in sad situations, but love helped them get through the hard times and stay sweet.
The couple spent their whole lives together and planned to enjoy their 71st wedding anniversary, but Edith died just before the party.
John McKay was one of the soldiers who freed the inmates at Auschwitz, which was in Poland, during the war. Edith Steiner, who was 20 years old, was one of the people who made it out alive. All of her kinfolk, except for her mother, were sent to the gas chambers right away. The Nazis killed 39 men from her family in a brutal way.
Edith and her mother were saved by a miracle. Also, they told what happened to the innocent people who died in Joseph Mengele’s tests on the death angel prisoners at Auschwitz.
When the prisoners in the concentration camps were freed, they had a party, and John couldn’t take his eyes off Edith the whole time. Instead of going up to her himself, he asked a friend to find out if she would dance with him.
Edith said in a firm voice that she didn’t mind, but only if John was brave enough to ask her in person. So began John and Edith’s love story, which went on for many years.
The young couple got married in Scotland, which is where Mackay lives. The wedding took place on July 17, 1946, and the two people haven’t been apart since. They had two kids, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Both of them worked at the hotel until they were old enough to retire. John and Edith spent their last years in a nursing home.
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Sharon McKay, who is her daughter, says that Edith Steiner was in Auschwitz for six weeks. The Hungarian town of Szekesfegervar was where Edith and her family came from.
They didn’t have much of a chance of making it out alive. People who were sent to the gas chambers died right away, and Edith and her mother were waiting to die of exhaustion.
They were lucky to be among the prisoners who were waiting to be set free. Edith didn’t lose hope because she had a crest and a book of poems with her in the concentration camp.
As the Soviet army attacked, the Nazis sent prisoners to work in workshops and mines as they ran away. During the war, John was also held in Tobruk, but he and a friend were able to escape while dressed in Italian clothing. It took the fugitives about a year and a half to get back home. John’s military journey went on, and he joined the Special Airborne Service of Great Britain.
John and Edith were happy together and took care of each other until the end. Edith died at the age of 92, and John was with her at the time. The couple decided to celebrate their 71st wedding anniversary in just a week.
Workers at a care home say that John and Edith were a good example of how to be in a relationship. John always cared about how his love was doing, and until the end, they just called each other “sweet” and “sweet.”
A Message of Hope
The soldier’s selfless act of bravery and the bond he formed with the young girl afterward shows the power of kindness, the strength of the human spirit, and the fact that light will always win over darkness. Their story makes us want to face the horrible things that happened in the past, learn from them, and work hard to make sure that these things never happen again.
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