20 | FEBRUARY 11 • 2021 

A

bout 170 Holocaust 
survivors received 
the first dose of the 
COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, 
Jan. 29, at the Jewish Family 
Service (JFS) building in West 
Bloomfield.
Brother and sister Alfred 
Zydower and Anna Lindemann, 
ages 91 and 89 respectively, 
were among those at the JFS 
building receiving the vaccine. 
Born in Germany, the sib-
lings fled to Shanghai, China, in 
1940 by way of Siberia.
“I feel fine,
” Zydower of 
Madison Heights said after 
receiving the vaccine.
“No problem,
” Lindemann of 
Oak Park added.
Neither Zydower nor 
Lindemann thought they’
d see 
anything like the pandemic at 
this point in their lives, but as 
Holocaust survivors they have 
lived through much worse.
“You cannot really compare 
to the Holocaust era when 

all that suffering went on,
” 
Zydower said. “Today, if you 
obey all the rules, you wear 
your mask and you stay at 
home, you’ve got nothing to 
worry about in a way. 
“Nobody is really bothering 
you here, you’ve got all your 
freedom, and nobody will ever 
call you ‘dirty Jew’ like they did 
in Germany, even if they didn’t 
know you.
”
Zydower thinks the develop-
ment of the vaccine is a good 
sign.
“I believe it’s going to help 
tremendously,
” he said. “If you 
do catch it still, it will not kill 
you and stuff like that. It will be 
more like you’re having a flu.
” 
The clinic came about when 
JFS contacted the Oakland 
County Health Division 
(OCHD) to see if their staff and 
volunteers could get vaccinated 
as essential workers. JFS, which 
helps Holocaust survivors year-
round, also inquired about the 

survivors getting vaccinations, 
and the ball started rolling from 
there.
JFS CEO Perry Ohren said 
they did some pre-work before 
receiving the go-ahead, with 
JFS geriatric case 
managers reach-
ing out to every 
survivor they 
knew in the area, 
amounting to over 
400 in total. They 
asked the survivors 
about their interest if they were 
to have a vaccination clinic, as 
well as if they needed a ride.
JFS also got the word out 
through social media, the 
Holocaust Memorial Center 
and through the Holocaust pro-
gram at Jewish Senior Life.
That Monday, JFS got the 
call: The clinic for the first dose 
would be that Friday. 
“We scrambled,
” Ohren said. 
“I work with lots of amazing 
people who figured out the 

logistics, and today the Oakland 
County Health Division is 
scheduled to vaccinate 170 or 
so Holocaust survivors. Maybe 
50 of them are getting rides here 
through JFS transportation.
” 
(Some of the survivors served 
by JFS had already been vacci-
nated prior to the clinic.)
About 75 JFS employees were 
also vaccinated, along with 
about 50 Meals on Wheels vol-
unteers.
While the pandemic has 
affected everyone, being able to 
help facilitate vaccinations to 
the Holocaust survivors, with 
all they’ve been through, ren-
ders Ohren nearly speechless. 
“Of all of our sacred work, 
working with survivors any-
where from 75 to 105 years old, 
there’s nothing more important 
than to help survivors,
” Ohren 
said. “For us to be able to do 
a homey clinic at a place that’s 
familiar to them, I don’t have 
words. I could cry.
” 

Holocaust survivors now focus on surviving the pandemic.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
Glad to Be Vaccinated

Perry Ohren

COURTESY OF JFS

OUR COMMUNITY

Nina Serenko gets 
her initial dose of the 
COVID vaccine.

Edith Bernstein gets 
vaccinated at JFS.

