The Gallers have an interesting story; sweethearts before W.W.II, Henry and Eve survived the Holocaust to find each other and to get married.  Henry came to Centenary to speak, but unfortunately his wife was not feeling well.  She has had heart problems recently and was not up to the trip.
        Henry was born in 1921 in Oleszyce, Poland, which is located on the border between Poland and Russia.  His father owned a textiles shop where he did business with both Jews and Gentiles.  A Hasidic Jew, Henry studied the Torah fervently because his father wanted him to become a rabbi.
        In September of 1939, the war began.  Henry and his family were taken, but he managed to escape to Russia.  In 1941 he joined the Polish Army.  At first, Henry was turned away because he was Jewish, but after saying that he had been mistaken and that he was actually Polish, he was accepted.  He fought as an artillery officer against the Germans.  Finally, Henry was able to return to his hometown, where he realized that very few Jews had survived.  He visited his old house, but the current residents at first did not believe that he had ever lived there because he appeared to be Polish and because they knew that the house had belonged to a Jewish family.  The townspeople who remembered him were shocked at his return, for they could not believe that any of the Jews survived after they were driven out several years before.  Henry and Eve were reunited, and soon after they were married.  Eve had miraculously survived the Holocaust by jumping out of a cattle car into a snow bank and avoiding the gunfire of the Nazis.
        I very much enjoyed listening to Mr. Galler speak about his experiences in the war and in the Holocaust, but I was disappointed that Mrs. Galler could not be there.  I would like to hear more about their feelings on the Holocaust and how it strengthened their relationship.