FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 11, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Forest Hills group helps Holocaust survivor secure vaccine
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
While many seniors continue to struggle
Video shows Woodhaven home invaders as they held man at gunpoint
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Th e NYPD released startling video on
the morning of Saturday, Feb. 6, from
inside a Woodhaven home invaded by
two armed suspects who terrorized
family members at gunpointon Friday.
Th e brief fi lm shows the suspects forcing
a man to the fl oor at gunpoint, then
restraining him inside the residence on
89th Street near 85th Road in Woodhaven
at about 2:55 a.m. on Feb. 5.
Six people were inside the residence at
the time of the home invasion, including
two children: a 10-year-old girl and
a 9-year-old boy. Cops said the two
gunmen confronted the victims aft er
entering the home through a basement
window.
Aft er demanding cash and jewelry, law
enforcement sources reported, the two
suspects proceeded to tie up the adult victims:
an 18-year-old man, a 34-year-old
man, a 30-year-old man and a 28-yearold
woman.
Th e video shows one of the gunmen,
while brandishing a silver handgun,
ordering a male victim to lie face down on
the living room fl oor and place his hands
behind his back.
Seconds later, the video cuts to show
the victim with his wrists bound with
what appeared to be cable ties. A second
gunman then appears, carrying a black
handgun, and says something to the
restrained man.
Police said the suspects managed only
to retrieve a safe key from the home
before fl eeing in an unknown direction.
Offi cers from the 102nd Precinct
responded to the incident. No serious
injuries were reported.
Cops described the fi rst suspect in the
video as a man with a dark complexion
between 20 and 30 years of age, standing
6 feet tall and wearing a black hooded
sweatshirt with the Champion logo on the
front, a black du-rag, a black mask, dark
sweatpants and white sneakers.
Th e other perpetrator, police said, was
a man with a light complexion between
20 and 30 years of age, standing 5 feet, 7
inches tall with a thin build. He was last
seen wearing a black ski mask, a black
bubble jacket over a burgundy hooded
sweatshirt and burgundy sweatpants.
Anyone with information regarding
their whereabouts can call Crime
Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish,
dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit
tips online atnypdcrimestoppers.com,
or on Twitter@NYPDTips. All calls and
messages are kept confi dential.
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 diffi culty 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 non-emergency 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 fl ed 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. Th e government was pro-
Nazi and Jewish men were draft ed 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 draft ed 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.
“I remember I got a special piece of
paper. I think it was aft er the war that I
realized it was a Schutz Pass. We moved
in with 30 other people into a small apartment,”
Adler told the Raoul Wallenberg
Foundation. “I remember that my mother
got very ill; she had pneumonia. I don’t
remember how, but somehow I was able
to sneak out of the building, and get a
doctor and some medicine, and she got
better thankfully.”
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
with Austria was open and thousands of
Hungarian Jews fl ed to the west.
Adler settled in Great Neck where she
lived for the past 47 years with her husband
Greoge, who was also a benefi ciary 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 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.
“We joined the line and when we got
to the window we explained the situation
and were informed that because she didn’t
have an appointment she wouldn’t be able
to get the vaccine,” Cyperstein said. “Th is
was her third attempt to get the vaccine.
Immediately we asked for a supervisor
and a truly amazing individual named
John was 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 fi nally got a
vaccine,” Cyperstein said. “She was elated
as she called her friends and family on the
way home to share the news.”
Courtesy of Chaverim
A Forest Hills Jewish organization was instrumental in helping Holocaust survivor Agota Adler
receive her COVID-19 vaccination.
Screenshot from video courtesy of NYPD
One of two home invaders holds a man at
gunpoint on the fl oor of his Woodhaven
residence on Feb. 5, 2021.
2021
WINNERS HAVE
BEEN ANNOUNCED!
SEE IF YOUR FAVORITES WON BY HEADING TO
BESTOF.QNS.COM
@bestoftheboro
/BESTOF.QNS.COM
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
/atnypdcrimestoppers.com
link
link
link
link
