BY BILL PARRY
While many seniors continue
to struggle with the COVID-
19 vaccination distribution
process across the city, a Forest
Hills Jewish organization came
to the aid of a Holocaust survivor
and helped her receive her
inoculation.
Agota Adler, 85, was able to
sign up for her coronavirus vaccine
during last week’s snowstorm
but she had difficulty arranging
a ride from her Great
Neck home to the Queens Hospital
Center campus on 164th
Street in Jamaica Hills and Hillcrest.
Adler turned to Chaverim
for assistance and volunteers
from the group, which is known
for its free-of-charge roadside
assistance in a variety of nonemergency
situations including
the delivery of food to homebound
individuals, mobilized to
assist her.
“Chaverim took me from my
home to the hospital in Queens,
where I was vaccinated,” Adler
said. “I did not feel any pain.”
Originally from Budapest,
Hungary, Adler survived the
Holocaust and fled the communist
regime that followed World
War II. She credits her survival
to the legendary diplomat Raoul
Wallenberg as Hungary wavered
in its Jewish policy during
the war. The government
was pro-Nazi and Jewish men
were drafted into forced labor
brigades including Adler’s father,
who died during the war.
When the Nazis took control
of the country in 1944, ghettos
were established and Jews were
required to wear yellow stars
as plans were drafted to deport
them to the death camps of Europe.
Adler was too young at the
time to know of Wallenberg,
who was purchasing buildings
in Budapest and placing them
under his country’s protection.
Soviet forces liberated Hungary
from the Nazis in the following
year, and used their
presence to establish a communist
government that restricted
economic and religious rights.
During the failed Hungarian
uprising in 1956, the border
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.4 COM | FEB. 12-FEB. 18, 2021
with Austria was open and
thousands of Hungarian Jews
fled to the west.
Adler settled in Great Neck
where she lived for the past 47
years with her husband Greoge,
who was also a beneficiary
on Wallenberg’s Schulz Pass.
He died last April just as the
COVID-19 pandemic descended
on the New York metropolitan
area.
As the winter storm arrived
last week, Adler missed her
scheduled appointment for the
vaccine injection.
Adler turned to the Forest
Hills organization for help.
“She called Chaverim stating
that she had a vaccine appointment
scheduled during the
snowstorm to hit last week but
was unable to get anyone to take
her,” Chaverim founder Avi
Cyperstein said. “She wanted to
go to the site on Friday to see if
they would give her the vaccine
that she was originally scheduled
for earlier in the week. We
all knew that there was a chance
that they wouldn’t give it being
that she did not have an appointment
A Forest Hills Jewish organization was instrumental in helping
Holocaust survivor Agota Adler receive her COVID-19 vaccination.
for that day but she was
very anxious and we decided to
assist.”
Cyperstein, a candidate for
Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz’s
seat in District 26, which
covers Forest Hills, Rego Park,
Kew Gardens and Richmond
Hill, helped transport Adler to
her destination Friday.
“This was her third attempt
to get the vaccine,” Cyperstein
said. “Immediately we asked for
a supervisor and a truly amazing
individual named John was
Courtesy of Chaverim
there within a minute and heard
our explanation.”
Adler was placed in a line
and received her shot within 15
minutes.
“On the way home she exclaimed
with excitement, how
she survived the Holocaust,
lived through almost a year of
the COVID pandemic, and finally
got a vaccine,” Cyperstein
said. “She was elated as she
called her friends and family
on the way home to share the
news.”
Forest Hills group helps Holocaust
survivor get COVID-19 vaccination
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