_________________ WANTAGH ________________
HERALD Your Health
Diabetes & Weight Management
Inside Vol. 70 No. 51
New business joins chamber
Elementary school journalists
Page 12
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DECEMBER 15 - 21, 2022
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Woman killed in fire identified as Gloria Monk By MICHAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
Michael Malaszczyk/Herald
Classical holiday music at the library Long Island Chamber Music has made bringing high-quality classical music to Long Island its priority. It did just that last Saturday, when members played a full set of holiday music at the Wantagh Public Library. Story, additional photos, Page 3.
The 80-year-old woman who was killed in a fast-moving house fire in Seaford in the early morning of Dec. 6 has been identified, officials said. The woman, Gloria Monk, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her daughter, identified as Deborah Asdahl, 60, suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, officials added. Asdahl’s husband, Scott Betts, 63, also sustained an injury, along with a Wantagh firefighter, who suffered burns. According to detectives, about 70 firefighters rushed to the
scene, at 2464 Riverside Ave., to battle the blaze, which erupted shortly after 6 a.m. The Wantagh Fire Department was first to respond to the call of a fullblown house fire, with individuals trapped inside. Tom Bloomfield, the fire chief, and Lenny Mathewson, the first assistant chief, arrived on the scene, quickly assessed the situation and called for additional units to respond. Both Bloomfield and Mathewson entered the house as flames quickly spread. Authorities said that one victim was trapped on the second floor, which was engulfed in flames. Another was found unconscious, and firefightContinued on page 2
‘Saved by Schindler’ tells inspiring tale of perseverance By MICHAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
M
any know the tale of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist credited with saving more than a thousand Jewish lives during the Holocaust — a story popularized by Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film, “Schindler’s List.” But the stories of those he saved have not been as well known until now, thanks to author William Friedricks. In October, Friedricks published “Saved by Schindler: The Life of Celina Karp Biniaz,” which tells Karp Biniaz’s story
of surviving the Holocaust and then living out the American dream — a large part of which included living in Wantagh. For much of her life, Karp Biniaz never spoke about what she endured during the Holocaust. “My mother always said, ‘Oskar Schindler saved my life, but Steven Spielberg gave me my voice,’” Rob Biniaz, Karp Biniaz’s son, said. “She never really even talked to anyone about this experience until the book came out.” The book, Thomas Keneally’s “Schindler’s Ark,” came out in 1982, more than 10 years prior to Spielberg’s film. Friedricks’ newly published
T
his is important to fight the rising tide of antisemitism.
BIll FRIEDRICKS author
book recounts Karp Biniaz’s life. She was born in 1931 in Krakow, Poland to Irvin and Phyllis Karp. Both of her parents worked as accountants in Krakow and were practicing Jews. “They were fully integrated into Polish society,” Friedricks
said. “They did not live in the Jewish quarter, it was a mixed neighborhood. Celina had a great childhood up until the invasion in 1939.” Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939, and while the Nazis deemed much of the population of Poland “untermenschen,” or subhuman, Jews, especially,
lost their civil rights. In 1941, Karp Biniaz and her parents were forced to live in a Jewish ghetto, and she was not allowed to begin the third grade. Friedricks recalled how, during this time in the ghetto, Jewish children were deemed insignificant for labor, and so Karp Biniaz’s mother forged docuContinued on page 4