Margit Feldman, 90, passed away Tuesday in a New Jersey hospital, several weeks after she contracted the coronavirus
A Holocaust survivor has died from COVID-19 just one day before she was set to mark the 75th anniversary of her liberation from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Margit Feldman, 90, passed away Tuesday in a New Jersey hospital, several weeks after she contracted the contagious virus.
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy paid tribute to Feldman Thursday, remembering her as a prominent advocate for Jewish causes and Holocaust education in the state.
“Margit gave us so much hope over her 90 years. Her legacy is best captured in her work to ensure that the world never forgets the horrors of the Holocaust,’ Gov. Murphy stated.
Feldman’s husband, Harvey, is in hospital after also coming down with COVID-19. The couple’s son is a doctor currently serving on the front lines of the crisis.
Feldman (center) is pictured with members of her family in a recent photo
Feldman was born in Hungary on June 12, 1929 – the exact same birth date as Anne Frank.
At the age of 14, she was transported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland with her parents, who were both killed.
Feldman managed to survive a series of concentration camps, where she endured labor and had ‘AS23029 tattooed onto her arm.
She was liberated from the Bergen Belsen camp in northern Germany on April 15, 1945.
Soon after, Feldman emigrated to the United States, but did not publicly discuss the trauma of the Holocaust until she was asked to record her story by a high school student in the early 1990s.
Feldman helped to pass a bill that mandated a Holocaust curriculum in New Jersey public schools and also published a book about her experiences.
The moment marked a turn in Feldman’s life, and she spent the following years spent the last decades of her life sharing her story with schoolchildren.
Feldman helped to pass a bill that mandated a Holocaust curriculum in New Jersey public schools and also published a book about her experiences.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 has also claimed the life of thousands of other remarkable Americans, including Lila Fenwick – the first African American woman to graduate from Harvard Law School.
Fenwick, 87, succumbed to the coronavirus last week. She died at her home in Manhattan.
The New York native attended Harvard Law at the same time as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Her graduation helped pave the way for other black women who went on to study at the prestigious law school – including former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Fenwick went on to study at the London School of Economics, before becoming a human rights official at the United Nations.
It is unclear how Fenwick, who has no immediate relatives, contracted the coronavirus.
The virus has also claimed the life of another prominent New York City resident – 92-year-old saxophonist Lee Konitz.
Konitz died Wednesday in a Manhattan hospital. His son confirmed the cause of death was pneumonia related to COVID-19.
The Chicago native famously collaborated with jazz icon Miles Davis in the 1950s.
He was the last surviving musician who collaborated with Davis on his ‘Birth of the Cool’ record. Interest in the album has recently been revived following an acclaimed documentary about the album released earlier this year.
Konitz’ career spanned seven decades, and his performances were reviewed in the New York Times. He continued playing the saxophone into his 90s.
Elsewhere in America, COVID-19 tragically claimed the life a 22-year-old man from Oklahoma, just a month after he celebrated the birth of his first child.
Israel Sauz died in a Tulsa hospital on April last Sunday after being put on a ventilator. He spent a week in intensive care.
Sauz’ heartbroken widow says she remains mystified as to how her husband contracted the disease, and how it hit him so hard.
The gas station manager was young and healthy with no known pre-existing conditions.
Relatives who have set up a GoFundMe account have remember Suaz as a ‘sweet, loving, hard working husband, father and son.
His only son, Josiah, was born just last month.