«Lolek var et sjenerøst geni, han lot meg skrive av hans notater»

Emotional Meeting Between the Pope and His Childhood Jewish Friend

JERUSALEM, MAR 24 (ZENIT).- Yesterday, two childhood friends separated by the Second World War were reunited at Jerusalem's Holocaust Memorial: Pope John Paul II and Yossef Bainenstock.

No one was dry-eyed when, a half a century after their separation, the Jew who survived the Holocaust, and the Christian who became Pope, embraced. «For a long time I wanted to ask him for an audience in the Vatican, but I had the hope that sooner or later I would see my old playmate again here, in Israel,» Yossef said at the end of the ceremony.

He spoke to him in Polish, called him by his nickname, «Lolek.» They remembered old times, «the afternoons on the soccer fields - he was goalkeeper and stopped many goals; the skiing excursions, school...» John Paul II shook his hand for a long time and then asked about his family, most of whom died in Auschwitz or Dachau, the same extermination camps where Yossef was held.

Before the War, there were 2,000 Jews in Wadowice. Only 200 escaped death at the hands of the Nazis. Some emigrated to Israel, and of these 13 are still living, all close to 80 years old. These were invited to share this moment with the Holy Father at the Holocaust Memorial.

«Lolek was top of the class, a real genius. The teachers hardly finished asking a question, when he already had the answer. He was a generous genius, who let me copy from his notebooks, and helped me pass exams. I was a Jew and he a Christian, but we saw nothing strange in our friendship,» Bainenstock recalled.

Zenit - The World Seen From Rome