Pope Francis greets Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor Lidia Maksymowicz at the weekly General Audience on 26 May 2021 (Image © Vatican Media)
-- Rome -- Lidia Maksymowicz was only two years-old when she was deported to the infamous Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. For three years she was subjected to medical experiments at the hands of Josef Mengele. “All the children knew who Mengele was and were terrified of him,” she says telling her story in the decades following the end of the war.
On Wednesday morning, Maksymowicz was able to greet Pope Francis at the Vatican during the General Audience. During their brief encounter, the Holy Father kissed the number tattooed into her arm.
