99-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Dies After Being Hit by Car on the Way to Synagogue

Photo: CBS New York

Mikulincer was with his friend of 40 years and fellow Holocaust survivor Jehuda Lindenblatt at the time. Lindenblatt, who is an EMT, called for help,CBSNewYorkreports.

Mikulincer was pronounced dead when he arrived at NYC Health and Hospitals/Coney Island, police said.

“I’m a Holocaust survivor. I went through a lot of things, and that was one of the biggest shocks in my life,” Lindenblatt, 85, told CBSNewYork.

“I was about four feet away. If the car had come a little bit more then I wouldn’t be here.”

Police said that the operator of the vehicle, a 52-year-old male, remained at the scene of the accident and was not immediately charged with any crimes.

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“I still don’t believe I’m never going to see him again,” Elke Weiss, one of Mikulincer’s grandchildren, told theNew York Times. “He was such an amazing person.”

“I can’t believe my grandfather, who survived so much, was killed in a car accident,” she added.

Mikulincer, originally from what is now known as Ukraine, escaped the Hungarian army and fought for the Russian army during World War II, using his ability to speak seven languages to translate. He later enlisted in the Israeli Army during Israel’s war for independence, theTimesreports.

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He met his wife Frantiska, an Auschwitz survivor, while he was in Israel. They moved to New York where they raised two daughters. The couple owned and operated a bakery on Brighton Avenue in Brooklyn.

The NYPD investigation into Mikulincer’s death remains ongoing .

source: people.com