Shimson Kleuger | |
---|---|
Szymon Kluger | |
Born | Oświęcim, Poland | 19 January 1925
Died | 26 May 2000 Oświęcim, Poland | (aged 75)
Resting place | Jewish Cemetery, Oświęcim |
Known for | Last known Jewish person in Oświęcim, Poland |
Shimson Kleuger (also Szymon Klieger or Szymon Klüger; 19 January 1925 – 26 May 2000) was a Polish Holocaust survivor and the last openly Jewish person to live in the town of Oświęcim, Poland, (German: Auschwitz) from 1962 until his death in 2000. Although Oświęcim had a Jewish community making up over half the town with 8,000 people before 1939,[1] all other known Jewish residents, including the rest of Kleuger's family, had either fled in the large-scale exodus shortly before the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II or were deported to concentration camps by Nazi authorities. Of the few survivors, Kluger was the only Jewish resident to return to Oświęcim, for which he became known as "The Last Jew in Auschwitz".[2] This was especially prominent due to the nearby presence of the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp.