Hungarian Holocaust survivors thank American soldiers 70 years after being rescued in Germany

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungarian Holocaust survivors rescued 70 years ago from a train taking them from one concentration camp to another paid tribute to the American soldiers who helped liberate them.

Julia Kadar, who organized a commemorative meeting in Budapest, was among those who spoke via Skype with Lt. Frank Towers, who was in Nashville, Tennessee. He had been the liaison officer of the 30th Infantry Division which liberated the train near the German village of Farsleben on April 13, 1945.

Kadar, 6 at the time, thanked the "heroic American soldiers for allowing us to live meaningful, useful lives — for allowing us to grow old."

About 2,500 Jewish prisoners, including 560 children, were being taken from the Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany to the Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia when they were rescued.