Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York City will initiate an effort to make sure that Holocaust survivors get vaccinated.

Getting a vaccine is a huge sigh of relief, and not only for the person who gets the dose. It’s also an enormous comfort to family who’ve stayed away to keep a cherished relative safe. It’s even more significant when the beloved family member is a Holocaust survivor,
like Hela.

At age five, Rita fled her home with her family when the Nazis invaded her village in Kotovsk, Ukraine, murdered 113 Jews, and set up a ghetto. Now, at 84, Rita is living through another dangerous period with the Covid crisis — but this time one where Rita feels bound to her home, afraid to leave.

Telling his tale of loss, a Holocaust survivor living in New York City warned of the dangers of the rise in anti-Semitism, and denounced Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The KAVOD Survivors of the Holocaust Emergency Fund (SHEF) initiative was launched in March 2019 by Seed the Dream Foundation in partnership with KAVOD-Ensuring Dignity for Survivors to support thousands of Holocaust survivors across the United States.

Many have asked, “What happens when Holocaust survivors stop sharing their stories?”

A nonprofit offering services for Holocaust survivors has signed a roughly 15,000-square-foot, 10-year lease for a new facility on Coney Island.