By The Survivors Club Staff
January 5, 2010

Given what she went through more than 60 years ago, it may be considered a true miracle that Jafa Wallach has lived to see her centenary. As a Jew in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, Wallach had to endure persecution and hardship, including a two-year separation from her daughter Rena.

In the end, Wallach, along with her husband and two brothers-in-law, survived the worst thanks to a Polish neighbor who hid them for 22 months in a 6- by 4-feet space beneath basement floor boards in his mechanic's workshop, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

During the recent birthday celebration, Alan Magill, recreation director of Ateret Avot, many of whose residents are Holocaust survivors, said that despite the ordeal "Jafa survived, but she also thrived," quoted by the news provider.

Her daughter Rena added that Jafa, who published a memoir in 2006 that has since been translated into Hebrew and Polish, is "one of the most optimistic people I've ever met."

The precise number of Jews who perished in the Holocaust is difficult to determine, but according to the Yad Vashem Institute it ranges between 5 and 6 million people.

Since Americans continue to be involved in war zones around the world, individuals suffering from the aftermath of violent conflicts may turn to the Trauma Resource Institute. The American Red Cross is another prominent non-profit organization that helps war victims around the world and accepts donations.