Holocaust survivor killed by car in Brooklyn on his way to synagogue

A 99-year-old man in a wheelchair, a Holocaust survivor, was fatally hit by a BMW in Brooklyn. He was on his way to the synagogue New York Daily News referring to the grieving relatives and friends of the deceased.

Jack Mikulinzer was heading to the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center a few blocks from his home when a BMW SUV crashed into him. At the time, he was crossing Coleridge Street on East Boulevard around 16:45 p.m. Saturday, police said. Mikulintser was riding in an electric scooter-like wheelchair when he was hit.

“I was by his side when it happened,” said his close friend, 85-year-old Yehuda Lindenblatt. “I heard the impact and saw it fly off and then fall.”

Lindenblatt, also a Holocaust survivor, headed to the synagogue with Mikulinzer, as they did every Friday and Saturday, to keep Shabbat.

The doctors took Mikulintser to the Coney Island hospital, but they could not save him.

“All his life he was worried: “When I die, I should not have pain,” Lindenblatt recalled. They have been friends for 50 years.

“And you see a friend die in front of your eyes. It's unthinkable," Lindenblatt added.

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The 52-year-old driver of the BMW X5 SUV remained at the scene, according to an NYPD spokesman. He was not immediately charged as the police continued their investigation.

“The guy probably didn't see him,” Lindenblatt said of the driver. “He died instantly. The doctor told me at the hospital in Coney Island that he had no pain."

Mikulintser endured many hardships

Mikulinzer, a native of Hungary, worked with the KGB to "hunt down the Nazis," Lindenblatt said. In 1948 he participated in the Israeli war.

“I loved him,” Lindenblatt said. “He was a man I admired.”

Mikulinzer and his late wife, Holocaust survivors, eventually settled in Brooklyn and started their own family.

Mikulintser's daughter, Aviva Mikulintser, received a call from the victim's other daughter shortly after the fatal accidents.

Onae made it to Coney Island Hospital from her home in East Orange, New Jersey, but it was too late—her father had already died.

“Your life stops, it stands still. You have to remember to breathe," Aviva said upon receiving the tragic news.

Mikulinzer formerly owned the Ocean View Bakery on Brighton Second Street in Brighton Beach. He later changed the name to Aviva Bakery in honor of his daughter. But he was forced to quit the business to take care of his wife after a severe car accident about 30 years ago.

Mikulinzer's wife was on her way to a Hanukkah celebration in Queens. The car in which she was a passenger was hit by another car, their daughter said.

According to the family, persistent health problems associated with her imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps aggravated her condition, she never recovered from a car accident and died in 2011.

“He did everything he could for her,” Aviva said of her father.

Loved spending time with grandchildren and worried about them

Mikulinzer and his wife kept details of their time in Nazi-occupied Europe to themselves. They told their children very little about the horrors they had seen.

In his later years, Mikulintser enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He loved to draw with them and do home baking.

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“He knew everything by heart,” Aviva said of her father’s recipes. “He was constantly making cakes for his great-grandchildren, and they loved them very much.”

Mikulintser remained very active, practicing stepping and regularly attending the temple and sporting events of his grandsons. On February 3, he was at his nephew's basketball game.

“He loved to go to the synagogue, and when the coronavirus came to us, the synagogue was closed,” Aviva said. “I think he began to feel lonely and sad.”

Mikulintser was considered in his community as a gabbai, a person who helps in the daily work of the synagogue.

“It was a blessing to have a father like him,” Aviva said. - It was an honor. He was everything to me."

Aviva said that every Tuesday morning she drove from her home in New Jersey to spend a couple of hours with her father. They met and played solitaire on his computer.

“We talked, drank coffee and had breakfast together,” she said. “It was a wonderful time. He liked my company, and I definitely liked his.”

Gradually the conversation turned to politics and current events.

“I think at 99 he has seen a lot, and it’s not surprising,” she said. “He was a little sad because of the situation in the world. He was worried about children, grandchildren and future generations.”