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LAKE CRYSTAL, Minn. (WCCO) ― It looked like any airport reunion. Mia Lakmaker raced straight into the arms of Wilma Stienstra. The two older women held tight and spoke excitedly to each other in Dutch.

"I have to ask her a lot of questions." "But you have time." "We have the time now to make a lot of questions, to fill a circle, you know?"

For these two friends, the circle began during World War II. In 1940, Hitler's forces invaded their homeland, the Netherlands.

"Everybody was afraid," said Wilma. "Germans were rounding up Jews."

Wilma's parents owned a factory in the small town of Iljst. They were Protestants who decided to risk their lives to help others. First, the family hid a Jewish woman.

"We called her Tante Susie -- Aunt Susie," said Wilma.

A year later, a little girl was dropped off late at night. It was Mia, who remembers crying all night.

Wilma explained, "She was only two-and-a-half. I could not bear it. I was crawling under the blankets, and I thought 'I don't want to hear this.'"

The next morning Mia met her new brothers and sisters.

"They're looking at me, and I looked at them, and I began to laugh, you know. It's nice to see all the children," said Mia.

"And she had that big grin on her face, and I see that she still has that same grin when she laughs," added Wilma.

Mia's arrival meant more work for 11-year-old Wilma. According to her, she was told by her mother "Mia is your charge. She's your girl. You take care of her."

Wilma didn't mind the new girl one bit. Her little sister had died the year before.

"Why was I feel so attached to Mia? ... She was my girl, my baby," recalled Wilma.

Mia can't remember much from her days in Iljst. Still, she recalls one day the Germans came to town.

"They took me very quickly in the house, you know, and put me in the cupboard. That I remember," she said.

When the war ended, Mia's aunt came to get her. She told Wilma's parents she was Mia's mother.

"Mia was crying when she was taken away," said Wilma. "Oh, that was so hard. I lost another sister."

"I beg to the mother of Wieke (Wilma), 'Please, please don't let me go with this woman. I don't know her,'" Mia said.

The next couple years were rough on Mia. She got tuberculosis and spent a year and a half in the hospital. Her aunt never visited. A Jewish family later adopted her. Mia moved to Israel, married and raised a family.

While looking through old photos, she spotted a picture of herself with a large family. On the back of the photo was the name of Wilma's family and their town. With the help of a Dutch TV station, Mia tracked down Wilma's relatives.

"It came on the television, and in one hour it was fixed," said Mia. "It was very easy."

Wilma's brothers gave Mia her number in Lake Crystal, Minn. The two finally caught up over the phone. Wilma remembers the call.

"I said, 'What happened to your Mom?' She said, 'They went on the train, and they never, never made it.'" Wilma said.

"They catch them and took them to Sobibor. They came from the trains and they destroyed directly all of them," Mia said.

There were so many lives lost in the Holocaust, but Mia's life was saved.

Sixty-three years later, both women are grateful for that. While both women have big families, this week, Wilma said, hers got a little bigger.

"I got a sister back," she said. "Unbelievable."

When Wilma and Mia first got back in touch with each other, a reunion seemed unlikely. Wilma had health issues and Mia couldn't afford the trip. Fortunately, Northwest Airlines agreed to donate Mia's flight, and the Jewish Community Relations Council organized the reunion trip.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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