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Press Information published by the International Auschwitz Committee

13.12.2018

Auschwitz survivor Noah Klieger has died in Israel

 
 
Noah Klieger (© Bernd Oertwig)

Noah Klieger (© Bernd Oertwig)

 

 

 

Auschwitz survivors throughout the world are saddened by the death of their friend and companion Noah Klieger who passed away today in Israel aged 92.

Noah Klieger was born in Strasbourg in 1926. At 16 years of age in 1942, he was arrested in Belgium as a member of a Jewish underground organisation. He was then deported to Auschwitz in 1943. One of the reasons he managed to survive Auschwitz was because he volunteered to take part in boxing matches in the Auschwitz-Monowitz camp. The camp commandant scheduled the fights between prisoners as entertainment to relieve the boredom of the SS guards. Throughout his life, during his many meetings with young people around the globe, he provided accounts as an Auschwitz survivor and a contemporary witness, and said: “The extra ration of soup that they gave us for boxing also helped to save my life.” In 1945 the SS relentlessly herded him along on the notorious ‘death marches’ via Mittelbau-Dora to Ravensbrück, where he was liberated on 29 April 1945.

In Israel Noah Klieger was regarded as the doyen of Israeli sports journalism. He was especially famous for his lifelong reporting on his favourite sport: basketball. The Internationale Basketball Federation had long since given him a place in their Hall of Fame. As a journalist, Noah Klieger also reported about several court cases against SS perpetrators, and accompanied them with first-hand accounts of his own experiences.

Noah Klieger was the Israeli Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee.

In January 2017 he travelled to America with his grandson Yuval to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day by speaking in front of the United Nations Assembly in New York.

In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute and said:

"Noah Klieger’s zest for life, his energy and his readiness to climb the barricades, to speak out time and again against intolerance, anti-Semitism and hatred, were just as legendary as his glowing presence and his gentle patience when talking with young people about his life in his efforts to equip them for their own futures. He deplored ignorance and complacency. We will miss him with his powerful oratory skills and his intense human kindness, particularly during the conflicts we are experiencing at the present moment in time. His departure has made the world a little darker for us."

 
 
 

For further Information

Christoph Heubner

Executive Vice President
International Auschwitz Committee
Phone ++ 49 (0)30 26 39 26 81