Blowing out the candles together was six times as meaningful for six Holocaust survivors who celebrated their 100th birthday.
On Wednesday, Helen Diker, Lucy Blicker, Chaim Greenberg, Elaine Lefkowitz, David Sroka and Rena Reiter were serenaded to “Happy Birthday” to mark the major milestone.
“I’m thrilled and I’m excited. I didn’t expect anything like this," Reiter said.
“Thank God. Bless God for us being here,” Blicker said.
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The six are among the oldest Holocaust survivors in Broward County to be inducted into the Goodman Jewish Family Services’ inaugural Centenarian Club.
The party was a celebration for the ages, but it was also a stark reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust.
“Jewish people couldn’t go in the street," Reiter said. "You had to wear a star in the front and a star in the back."
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Some of the six survivors shared their powerful stories as many lost family members or were in concentration camps at the height of World War II.
“I was already feeling like I couldn’t make it anymore, so we hid with my sister in a hay barn,” Lefkowitz said.
Survivors like Blicker described being forced to sing for Nazi soldiers in Auschwitz and hiding in a bunker for months.
“I was in a bunker with my mother and my sister,” Blicker said.
These survivors have been alive for over 100 years and they want their stories to be kept alive so another Holocaust never happens.
“It’s something that from generation to generation it should be repeated and be careful,” Reiter said.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, less than 50,000 Holocaust survivors remain alive in the United States.
Only nine of the last generation of Holocaust survivors in Broward have reached the 100-year mark.
“It’s important that we continue to celebrate the lives of these people," said Randy Colman, president and CEO of Goodman Jewish Family Services. "They’ve experienced so much trauma in their lives, including seeing the death of family members and friends and the stories need to continue to be shared so people will never forget."
