A woman who survived the Holocaust was killed by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus that emerged from mainland China last year.
Margit Feldman died 75 years after being freed from the Bergen Belsen concentration camp.
Feldman, a Hungary native, was sent to Auschwitz when she was just 15. She was liberated several years later and was living in New Jersey when she died on Tuesday.
Gov. Phil Murphy said at a press conference Thursday that “Margit’s legacy is best captured in her work to ensure that the world never forgets the horrors of the Holocaust.”
“She would share her story of survival and liberation with tens of thousands of students across the state, and served as a founding member of both the New Jersey Holocaust Education Commission, and the Holocaust and Genocide Institute at Raritan Valley Community College,” he added.
Feldman gave people “so much hope” during her life, the governor said. “May her memory be a blessing to her family and to us all.”
Feldman was 90 when she passed away. Her husband, Harvey Feldman, is in the hospital. He also has the CCP virus, which causes a disease called COVID-19.
The elderly and people with underlying health conditions are most at risk from the disease.
The Feldmans’ son, Joseph, is a doctor caring for COVID-19 patients.
Concentration Camps
Feldman was held in more than one concentration camp before being death marched to Bergen-Belsen. In a 2016 documentary, Feldman said the taste of soup she had at the camp stuck with her for decades, as did memories of sleeping where people had passed away.
Feldman also recalled the sick games the Nazis would play, including counting Jews and murdering every 10th one.
She was liberated by British soldiers in 1945 and immigrated to the United States two years later. She was married in 1953 and became an x-ray technician with two children.
Feldman said she believed she survived the inhumane treatment by Germans to speak to others.
“I feel that I survived for a reason—to tell the world about the uncaring human beings who existed,” Feldman told a local paper in 2016. “I speak on behalf of the six million people who did not survive—this is a commitment I made to God.”
Her family said that she “devoted her life to telling her inspiring story and touched the hearts of thousands of students, educators, and members of the community.”
“Her goal was to inspire people to stand up for one another and fight against all forms of prejudice and hate,” they said in her obituary.
Feldman’s work included helping pass a state bill requiring a Holocaust and genocide curriculum in the public school system.
