Power of love

The couple who met in Auschwitz... then reunited 39 years on

- by CLAIRE O'BOYLE

AS the horrors of Auschwitz unfolded around them, two 20-somethings found love - leading to one of World War Two's most remarkable escapes.

Jerzy Bielecki, a Polish Catholic, and Cyla Cybulska, a Jew from eastern Poland whose family was murdered by the Nazis, worked in the camp grain silo. "Men and women were actually forbidden to speak to one another," says historian Dr Kate Vigurs.

"But there were instances where they would come together on work details or brush up against one another: Jerzy and Cyla met one another on a work detail. She caught his eye and the two instantly fell in love."