A Brooklyn program provides crucial support to Holocaust survivors, addressing loneliness and decades-old trauma on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The program, run by Maimonides Medical Center, offers home visits and trauma-informed therapy, focusing on the unique needs of survivors, many of whom have experienced intensified emotional distress due to recent events like the war in Ukraine and rising antisemitism. The program caters to a large population of survivors, particularly Russian-speaking individuals from the former Soviet Union, offering a vital network of understanding and connection.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a Brooklyn -based program is actively working to combat the persistent loneliness and deeply rooted, decades-old trauma experienced by Holocaust survivors. These individuals, having endured unimaginable suffering, are now living far from the places where their lives were irrevocably altered.
Brooklyn, notably, boasts one of the largest concentrations of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel, underscoring the vital importance of this support network within the borough.\Marat Rivkin, an 88-year-old survivor, offers a poignant glimpse into the enduring impact of the Holocaust. He possesses a single photograph of himself with his mother, a snapshot taken in 1941 at a Soviet train station. This photograph served as a vital tool, a means to potentially reunite with his mother if they were separated during the chaos of war. Rivkin vividly recalls the day his mother, overcome with emotion, announced the war's commencement. He recounts his childhood memories of the Nazi-allied forces' devastating destruction of Jewish ghettos in his hometown of Slutsk, then part of Soviet Belarus. He remembers the harrowing experience of being thrown into poison ivy by his grandmother, who shielded him with her body and instructed him to survive if she did not. Rivkin and his family were forced to flee, undertaking a treacherous journey of nearly 1,000 miles to a village outside of Stalingrad, present-day Volgograd. This long journey would change the lives of Rivkin and his family forever. Today, he is one of many hundreds of Holocaust survivors who have built new lives in Brooklyn. In recent years, Rivkin has forged a close bond with Olga Smirnova, a clinical social worker who provides weekly home visits through a program run by Maimonides Medical Center. He describes her as more than just a caregiver, but as a trusted friend, someone who truly understands his experiences and offers invaluable advice. This program serves as a vital lifeline, helping survivors navigate the emotional complexities of their past.\Olga Smirnova explains that trauma-informed therapy requires a unique approach when working with Holocaust survivors. Traditional methods of using childhood experiences as a resource are often ineffective, as these experiences were themselves deeply traumatic for survivors. The visits prioritize addressing feelings of loneliness and emotional distress, issues that many survivors report have been exacerbated by the ongoing war in Ukraine and the concerning rise of antisemitism in the United States. Rivkin is one of many enrolled in the program, which is led by Dr. Abraham Taub, Chair of Psychiatry at Maimonides. Taub, the grandson of four Holocaust survivors, emphasizes the personal significance of the program. As time marches on, the long-suppressed traumas of the past can resurface. As people age, their defense mechanisms can weaken, making it more difficult to cope with experiences that have been suppressed or repressed for decades. The program strategically shifted its focus several years ago to better serve Russian-speaking survivors who had fled the former Soviet Union. While these individuals may not have experienced concentration camps directly, they faced displacement and the destruction of their homes by Nazi forces, a cause for their escape. Rivkin later spent decades as a Soviet dissident before immigrating to the United States, seeking a new life. Now widowed, with adult children and grandchildren, Rivkin says the visits from Smirnova provide him with a rare sense of understanding and connection. Smirnova urges every family to make an effort to connect with Holocaust survivors, even with a simple phone call. Such a small gesture can make a profound difference. These seemingly insignificant moments of contact can have a significant impact on survivors whose past continues to shape their present reality, reminding them that they are not forgotten and are deserving of connection
Holocaust Survivors Brooklyn Trauma Mental Health
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