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Holocaust, COVID-19 survivor returns home
Gita Shorr is now a survivor of the Holocaust and the COVID-19 pandemic, but the 90-year-old says she is blessed and has a lot more living to do.
LONG ISLAND - Gita Shorr will tell you it feels good to be back. On Thursday she received a warm welcome home from her family and the staff at The Bristal in East Northport. As cases of coronavirus started to spread throughout New York in March, the 90-year-old had no choice but to spend her birthday in quarantine.
Less than two months after she tested positive for COVID-19 and fought for her life.
“I went to hell and I went through it,” Shorr said.
Her recovery wasn’t easy but neither was her life. She lost her parents and four siblings in the Holocaust. Her family was forced into the Warsaw Ghetto when she was 9 and then she was transported to the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. She proudly points to the tattoo on her arm to remind people of why she’s the ultimate survivor.
“I really feel like she’s a hero,” said her daughter Rachel. “My superhero for sure.”
Two of her three children who welcomed her back are relieved she had the strength to pull through. As for Gita she says she’s blessed and has a lot more living to do.
“If I went through this I’ll go through anything," Shorr said.