June 3rd, 2010

Yesterday the Auschwitz survivor Alex Deutsch passed away

On Wednesday, 9 February 2011, the Auschwitz survivor Alex Deutsch passed away in Neunkirchen-Wiebelskirchen following a brief but serious illness.
He was 97 years old. As recently as 23 November, Alex Deutsch had joined in talks with students at a school near Zweibrücken telling them about his imprisonment in Auschwitz.
Alex Deutsch was 20 years old when he was deported from Berlin to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. His wife and his son of two and a half were murdered in Auschwitz.
After his liberation he left Germany to start a new life in the USA. He returned to Germany in 1978.

Together with his wife Doris he subsequently joined in countless talks with young people in many European countries: warning against hatred and intolerance became the central theme in his life. This was also the key to his commitment in the International Auschwitz Committee and the Adolf Bender Centre in St Wendel.

Alex Deutsch was greatly respected and esteemed worldwide as one of the Auschwitz survivors.

'He was a modest and wonderful person who, despite his horrific experiences, loved the world and his fellow human beings and refused ever to lose hope. He radiated all of this, and that's why the young people trusted him, listened to him and wrote him letters of thanks and empathy. The world has become a poorer place without Alex Deutsch,' stressed Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee in Berlin.

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