To celebrate couples who have been married for fifty years or more, V!VA Thornhill Woods put together a Lasting Love Contest, where they collected the stories of those long lasting marriages. The winning entry was chosen at a Wine and Cheese party on Valentine’s Day.
Zenia and David Rybowski were the winners. They have been married for 68 years.
Their winning entry is below:
Five years before May 1945, by coincidence, I met a friend who told me that I had a sister living Bergen Belzen. I went to the Americans and asked for transportation. They refused as they did not have permission. So I walked to a city three miles away and stole a bike from a German. It took 4 1/2 days to arrive in Bergen Belzen and find my sister. She worked as a nurse and received permission from Dr. Dingo for me to stay there. The next day she made a “Welcome Party” for me. One of her best friends Zenia was asked to sing a song for me. Of all the songs she choose to sing it was a song I had heard when she was in the Lodze Ghetto that I had fallen in love with. I ran over to her and gave her a kiss. The other girls asked why I kissed her and not them, to which I replied if they had sung that song I would have kissed them.
My sister asked me which girl did I like, and I said Zenia. My sister responded that I could not have her as she was dating a doctor from England who wanted to marry her and take her with him to England. The next day I went to the English Office and told them that the doctor was bothering my girlfriend, so they sent him away. Zenia wanted to kill me.
Shortly after, she lost her vocal cords and I searched for a doctor who could perform the surgery she required. I stayed day and nights by her side and after we decided to get married. On January 29, 1946 we were married. Now 68 years later we are still together because of love, friendship and respect for each other.
You can learn more about V!VA Thornhill Woods here. You can also see more photos from the event here.