Woman Who Lived Through The Holocaust Shares Inspiring Story Of Survival
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Holocaust Remembrance Day was being commemorated around the region Thursday, including a program with survivors at the Yeshiva of Flatbush.
WCBS 880's Peter Haskell spoke with Lola Moses, a woman who survived five concentration camps.
"I was in the gas chamber with my mother," Moses said.
Moses said she was part of multiple death marches with no sleep or food.
"We couldn't even bend down for a little snow because they would shoot you," she said.
In the winter, Moses was transported in open train cars in freezing temperatures.
"I remember they were something under me and then eventually I realized there were bodies," she said.
And yet, she never gave up.
"But we were always hoping that (we would) survive, survive, survive," she told Haskell.
About 64,000 Holocaust survivors remain in New York City, and advocates say nearly half are living below the poverty line, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
A bloc of City Council members is supporting a $1.5 million measure to provide them health support, home care and cash assistance.
Councilman Mark Levine, D-Manhattan, said the survivors are "people who had had their dignity forcibly taken from them during the Holocaust and now should not lose it again in these final years."
The average age of Holocaust survivors in the city is 83.
STUDENTS HAVE EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE IN LOWER MANHATTAN
Three hundred took an emotional journey through the Museum of Jewish Heritage, where survivors like Aviva Blumberg, shared their stories, along with personal artifacts they donated to the museum, CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported.
"This is my suitcase that with all my worldly belongings when I left Poland consisted of a pair of pajamas and a toothbrush," Blumberg said.
Blumberg shared pictures of her family. While she and her father survived, her mother and sister did not.
"It's scary to think that in one day everything could just change and your whole family could be lost," said Luisa Kassin of Ilan High School. "I'm really going to appreciate my little sister more, my brother … I'm really going to appreciate everything my parents do for me."
The students told Hsu they learned about strength and resilience.
"It gives us hope for our future. I they can do it, so much more so, than we can do it. We have so much hope from them," Jennifer Antar said.
"It's just amazing to see what they actually went through and for us to share in their pain. It's something that we can share with our kids for generations," Liz Setton added.
Abigail Lockshin is just 6 months old, but her mother wanted to make sure she had the chance to meet a survivor, Hsu reported.
"I'm afraid that by the time she's old enough to learn about the Holocaust and understand what happened that she won't have the opportunity to meet a survivor," Aviva Lockshin said. "I wanted her to sit in the lap of a survivor and to be part of the continuation of Jewish history in that way."
Abigail's mother said it's a privilege and an obligation to keep the stories alive.