Holocaust survivor dies 1 week after husband

A couple who met in the chaos of post-war Europe after surviving the Holocaust died a week apart in New York state after 57 years of marriage, relatives said. Rita Znamirowski, 76, of Montebello was buried Friday next to her husband Teddy, The (White Plains) Journal-News reported. She died Wednesday. "She was determined to see the love of her life again," her grandson, Erik LeMoullec, told the newspaper. "Can you blame her?" They first met in a displaced persons camp when Rita was 9 and Teddy 16. He had survived Auschwitz, while Rita and her mother had escaped from Odessa and survived the war in Kazakhstan and Dagestan. Teddy Znamirowski was the only survivor of his family, relatives said. Rita's father was killed fighting with the Soviet army and four of her siblings died in the war. Znamirowski helped mother and daughter get to Palestine, where he fought in the War of Independence in 1948. The couple met again a few years later and married. They moved to the United States in the 1960s. After working as a bus driver in Israel, Znamirowski became a contractor in Rockland County. Eti Znamirowski-LeMoullec, one of the couple's two daughters, said her mother always tried to get home from work before her father because she did not want him to feel alone -- knowing he had no one from his family of origin.