DAVIE, FLA. (WSVN) - Six very special Broward County residents who are among the last generation of Holocaust survivors marked a major milestone with a centennial birthday bash.
7News cameras captured Lucy Blicker, Helen Diker, Lucy Blicker, Chaim Greenberg, Elaine Lefkowitz, Rena Reiter and David Sroka as attendees at the celebration, held Wednesday in Davie, sang them “Happy Birthday to You.”
Several of the honorees turned 100 years old, and several others actually turned 101.
Some of them showed they still got it by blowing all their birthday candles.
The party was put together by Goodman Jewish Family Services.
“The fact that we had six Holocaust survivors with us today, and we were able to celebrate their lives and bring them a little joy and happiness, is truly a blessing in our lives,” said Goodman Jewish Family Services CEO Randy Coleman.
All six honorees were inducted into the organization’s Centenarian Club, surrounded by their friends, family and staff members.
“Your presence is a gift to all of us,” said an official with Goodman Jewish Family Services.
And the honorees were grateful for it all.
Thank you, everybody who came to see us. We are here,” said Blicker.
Lefkowitz, who turned 100, shared the pain she felt hiding as a young Jewish woman during the Holocaust.
“I was down to about 80 pounds, my body was all black. I just felt like I couldn’t do it anymore,” she said,
Lefkowitz said she and her sister received help getting to Czechoslovakia, where she was safe.
“We kissed the ground because we were so grateful that we have made it,” she said. “A Czech family had taken us in for a while.”
Through suffering so much trial and trauma, the survivors said, the secret to hitting the big one-oh-oh (or one-oh-one) is to simply be happy.
“Be happy, enjoy yourself, enjoy the people around you,” said Greenberg
“Working hard in life, taking care of yourself, no shenanigans,” said Reiter.
Those who were celebrated on Wednesday are six of the nine remaining Holocaust survivors in Broward County.
Officials with Goodman Jewish Family Services said they hope to continue celebrating survivors in the years to come.
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