Tributes have poured in for Holocaust survivor Marika Pogany who was fatally shot during the Sydney terror attack on the first night of Chanukah.
The 82-year-old grandmother was well known in the community having won the 2019 “Mensch Award”, handed out by New South Wales charity the Jewish Communal Appeal, for delivering in excess of 12,000 kosher “Meals on Wheels” over a period of more than 20 years.
Pogany was an avid volunteer and a member of Sydney's Harbour View Bridge Club, according to Australian paper the Sydney Morning Herald.
"She was a terrific person, [an] excellent bridge player and an even better friend. Incredibly loyal," the club's director, Matt Mullamphy – who counted Pogany as a friend of 40 years – told the paper.
Initial reports suggested the Shoah survivor was Hungarian-born, but it appears she hailed from the town of Komárno, part of present-day Slovakia.
Slovakian President Peter Pellegrini, and the country’s former leader, Zuzana Čaputová have paid tribute to the survivor, with the latter saying Pogany was “a long-time close friend”.
In an emotional Instagram tribute, Čaputová wrote: “Marika was an exceptional woman, she lived her life to the fullest, very active, she could enjoy life. In the last message that Marika sent me, among other things, she wrote: ‘Life is a struggle and you have to take it as it is.’”
Photos taken earlier on Sunday show Pogany at “Chanukah by the Sea” event where the mass shooting took place.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.