Holocaust survivor fights COVID-19 and wins

NEW YORK - Jack Holzberg survived one of the darkest hours in human history… the Holocaust. He never imagined he’d one day be tested to see if he could survive another war.

Miraculously this fierce 94-year-old just survived COVID-19. While so many COVID-19 survivors get wheeled out of the hospital, Jack was on his feet. A three-week battle with the virus somehow left him stronger and more resilient than ever.

Over the phone, Jack and his wife Betty told us how lucky they feel.

“I survived, I came home, that’s it I’m all right. Thank God I’m here that’s all,” said Jack.

“It was really an emotional moment to say thank God he survived it,” added Betty.

Jack grew up in Poland and lost his mom and two siblings in the holocaust. He was imprisoned in several Nazi concentration camps including Mauthausen and Płaszów. His experience was an inerasable nightmare etched into his mind like a dark cloud. Still, he carries a never-ending determination to keep going. An inspiration to his two children, four grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

“What strength he possesses and his positivity. How in school if they ever have to write about a hero, they can write about their great grandfather,” said Jack’s granddaughter Erica Wasserman.

“This ability that he has always had to work harder than everybody else, to carry a heavier burden, to not give into exhaustion,” said Jeff Wasserman, Jack’s grandson-in-law.

A lesson for the rest of us.