Holocaust survivor fights off purse snatcher

A woman who survived the Holocaust and concentration camps wasn't going to let a thief get away so easily.

A thief grabbed the 86-year-old woman's purse from her shopping cart at the Publix on South Semoran Boulevard in Orlando, and the victim told WFTV's Melonie Holt how she fought back.

"She didn't care where I fell. I could have fell anywhere," said Renee, who declined to give her last name or show her face, but spoke to WFTV in the hope that it might make other seniors more cautious about their next trip to the grocery store.

On Wednesday, Renee is still nursing her wounds from the Monday scuffle. Renee placed her purse in a
shopping cart and was closing her car door when she was approached by a stranger.

"I realized what happened as soon as she grabbed my purse," Renee said.

When asked why not just let her go, Renee said, "No, no, no, no. These people, they're sick, they're really mean. And they're predators."

Renee is a survivor, and not just of an Orlando strong-armed robbery.

At 17 she was placed in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp, where she was held until her liberation 2 1/2 years later.

"We were like little kittens, but this, I wasn't going to let her get away, it was a reflex," Renee said.

Renee reached in the thief's window, holding her by the hair. She was punched in the same arm that bears the tattoo from her captivity: Number 75, 152.

But in that parking lot she says she was the same as anyone else's grandmother.

"You got my Social Security card, you got Medicare, you ain't going to use it. Send it back, that's what I would say," Renee said.

Renee said the purse snatcher never looked her directly in the eye. She was a Hispanic female in her late 30s or early 40s.

Eyewitnesses saw the thief drive off in a tan four-door sedan, possibly an Infiniti. If you have any information on this incident, contact Orlando police.