Holocaust survivor gets ready to celebrate Passover
HALLANDALE BEACH - A 93-year-old Holocaust survivor is getting ready to observe Passover, which starts on Wednesday.
She shares her reflections on this holiday marking the exodus of the Jews from Egypt amid a rise in antisemitic attacks in recent months.
"I was born in the city of Lodz Poland, at the age of 9 war broke out," she said.
Besserman and her family were then forced to move to a ghetto, that is an area where Jews were forced to live. To escape further persecution her mother gave up her beauty salon outside of the ghetto for passage into the woods, where the family hid before escaping to Siberia.
"And it was very hard, they told us to be quiet not to complain or say anything, because the Germans were very near."
Eventually, after the war ended, she and her late husband made their way to America and started all over again. They survived to have 3 kids, 7 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandkids.
"That was my granddaughter's wedding," she proudly shared with CBS News Miami.
And this year, Besserman is the 600th survivor served by the Goodman Jewish Family Services.
"Passover is when Jews escaped Egypt and they escaped slavery, and while Adele's story is different she escaped other atrocities being in Poland and Russia and all the survivors who we really celebrate and embrace every day," Randy Colman, Goodman Jewish Family Services CEO said.
Colman helped to bring a seder plate for Besserman to celebrate this Passover.
"It can happen again, bad things can, and it shouldn't. We should all be happy we can be here and help each other," Besserman added.
She shares her story so that no one will forget what happened to the 6 million Jews that were murdered during World War II, and hopes, Jews around the world can live in peace.
