NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The lost year of COVID has been more painful and poignant for those who have already lost precious time.
For 85-year-old Celia Kener of Queens, the pandemic has been a challenge. She hasn't seen her family in more than a year.
"Given my age, I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, what if something happens to me? I'll never see them again?" said Kener.
The time in lockdown has felt familiar to Kener, who is a Holocaust survivor.
"For me, it's all reopened very old wounds," said Kener.
Kener was born in 1935 in Lvov, Poland and when the Germans invaded years later her life completely changed.
She and her mother were hidden in a barn by a kind Polish woman for more than a year during World War II.
"When rats came, one of us slept, the other one would make a noise to keep the rats away and we survived about a year and half," Kener recalled.
They were fed every three days.
The Queens woman said the loneliness during the pandemic is worse.
"Cause now I have children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and it's over a year now and I haven't seen anyone," Kener said. "I am alone, which is again a reminder of the war when I was alone."
Kener still carries lessons from the war and she's not giving up.
"I survived, I guess I developed a strong resilience," Kener said.
Kener is part of the Speaker's Bureau at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Learn more about her life here.
Follow WCBS Newsradio 880
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram