Holocaust survivor and soldier who saved her lived together for 71 years

During World War II, 23-year-old John Mackay, as part of a Scottish commando unit, rescued Jewish prisoners who were being transported from Auschwitz, and among them 20—year-old Edith Steiner, his future wife.

Edith ended up in a concentration camp with her mother and other family members. After six weeks, no one was left alive except them, all died in the gas chambers. Steiner found herself in the camp just at the time when the "Angel of Death" Josef Mengele was operating there, putting terrible medical experiments on prisoners.

John McKie and his friend escaped from a prison camp in Tobruk, Libya, disguised as Italian soldiers. They had to hide for 18 months to avoid falling into enemy hands again. John also served in the London Scottish Regiment, as part of which he rescued female prisoners from a concentration camp in 1944.

Edith was born in Szekesfehervar, Hungary. During the war, she lost 39 family members who perished in concentration camps. At a dance organized in honor of the liberation, the couple met. John timidly asked his friend to pass the invitation to Edith to dance, but she sent him away with a refusal, saying that if John wanted to dance with her, then let him come himself. Their first dance was the beginning of a love story that will last 70 years.

The couple married on July 17, 1946 after John McKie returned home to Scotland.

In February 2017, a couple who got married after the war celebrated 71 years together. Their love story hit the media, but three weeks later Edith died at the age of 92 in the arms of her beloved husband. John McKie was left alone, but the story of this couple became a touching reminder that true love exists.