90-year-old Holocaust survivor Gilda Zirinsky, of Great Neck, keeps moving through boxing

Just a few weeks after her 90th birthday, Gilda Zirinsky, of Great Neck, continues her weekly boxing and physical training at Strength in Mobility in Manhasset.

“You gotta keep moving. I don’t want to become the Tin Man,” Zirinsky explained, referring to the "Wizard of Oz" movie character who rusts solid.

Kim Hartfield, her trainer for more than half a decade, described Zirinsky as being “one in a million.”

“Anyone that’s training always is chatting with her and [asking] what’s the secret … and she’s inspiring to everyone that comes in,” Hartfield said.

Geriatric fitness

Dr. Philip Solomon, a physician with Northwell Health who specializes in geriatric and internal medicine, said there are correlations “between older adults who engage in physical activity and specifically exercise and a significant amount of health benefits.”

“We know that older adults that exercise about 150 minutes per week have significant improvements in their cardiovascular health, in their functional ability, and actually even some benefits to longevity,” he said, noting maintaining a more active lifestyle that includes three moderate intensity walks a week, or 30 to 60 minutes of weekly exercise, can still provide some benefits for that portion of the population.

“One of the biggest things that we like recommending … are things like tai chi” along with activities like moderate walking to get a heart rate in the 110s range for beats per minute, which is classified as moderate intensity exercise, Solomon said.

According to Christopher Christodoulou, a clinical and research neuropsychologist at the Stony Brook Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s disease, “There is good evidence that physical activity of almost any kind can be helpful for cognition and reduce our chances of developing various forms of dementia, including Parkinson’s disease.

“And just like for mortality, the greatest risk reduction for dementia occurs for those who are the most sedentary,” he said in a statement, adding, “While almost everyone benefits from increased physical activity, those moving the least are the . . . [ones] who can benefit the most by doing a little more.”

Zirinsky’s story

Her boxing sessions are far from the only challenge Zirinsky has faced; the twice-widowed painter survived the Holocaust, being forced to flee with her parents and extended family from their home country of Belgium at just 4 years old.

Zirinsky is determined to tell her story, speaking in venues such as schools and synagogues, both in person and virtually.

With the 86th anniversary of the beginning of World War II approaching, 70% of the over 200,000 remaining Holocaust survivors are expected to die within the next 10 years, according to a report by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

“I feel [it] so important [to] educate people as to what happened, and every survivor has another story,” she said.

She described her story as having “a happy ending,” but said whenever she finishes telling it, she finds herself having “tears in my eyes.”

Despite her young age during World War II, Zirinsky remembered waking up in Belgium to the sound of invading German planes flying in the night sky.

“We led a good life in Belgium, and then Hitler decided he needed to destroy the world as it is and go after the Jews,” she said.

As her family quickly packed their necessities, she persuaded her mother to take a box of photographs and documentation.

After boarding a train to France, her father and two male cousins were conscripted into joining the Polish forces fighting against the Nazis, which they agreed to do without reservation.

In France, her family was supported by her uncle, who took up work as a butcher.

Once France surrendered and some soldiers were relieved, her mother hoped that her father would arrive at a particular train station, which he miraculously did, reuniting the family.

Her family, along with many other fleeing Jewish people, boarded a cargo ship that was originally meant to transport bananas from France to England, but instead took her family to Casablanca, Morocco. 

Zirinsky said the boat captain “went against his company” in order to save 500 people.

“It was only his act of kindness that saved them,” she said, adding, “There's so many ways that people were kind.”

Zirinsky said kindness has become an important message for her to spread “because if you listen to people talking to each other on a daily basis, listen, it's really not kind,” and she encourages people to “stop for a moment and make a kind gesture or a statement.”

On Aug. 6, 1941, at age 6, Zirinsky arrived in New York City. Despite the limited funds that her parents had, she recalled her father buying her ice cream.

Zirinsky’s memoir, "I Went To Kindergarten in Casablanca," will be published in the fall.