Israel’s Oldest Holocaust Survivor Dies at 107 — His Final Message Will Never Be Forgotten

Yehuda Aharon Widawski, one of Israel’s oldest Holocaust survivors, has died at the age of 107.

Born in Poland in 1919, Yehuda survived Auschwitz, Nazi forced labor, and the loss of much of his family during the Holocaust.

His parents and several siblings were murdered by the Nazis. Only Yehuda and his brother Yehoshua survived the selection at Auschwitz.

During the war, he was forced to work in a German labor camp assembling aircraft wings. He later became an informal leader among the prisoners, helping protect them from punishment.

After liberation in 1945, Yehuda rebuilt his life, married, raised a family, and immigrated to Israel in 1950.

But he never forgot the people he had lost.

In 1978, he returned to Poland searching for his grandmother’s grave. What he found changed the rest of his life.

Jewish cemeteries had been devastated, and countless graves had been forgotten. Yehuda began working to restore them.

At the Jewish cemetery in Łódź, he helped identify and restore more than 3,000 graves. He spent decades traveling throughout Poland, preserving Jewish cemeteries and the memory of communities destroyed during the Holocaust.

In 2012, he was chosen to light a torch at Israel’s official Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem.

When asked about his revenge against the Nazis, his answer was unforgettable:

“My revenge on the Nazis is that they lost, and we have the State of Israel. We are free and strong, and no one will ever be able to destroy us again.”

Yehuda lived to see five generations of descendants. His life became a testament to survival, remembrance, and the power of rebuilding after unimaginable loss.

Following his death, Israeli President Isaac Herzog honored him as a symbol of life, memory, and national rebirth.

At 107, Yehuda Aharon Widawski is gone.

But the graves he restored, the stories he carried, and the generations he left behind ensure that the people the Nazis tried to erase will never be forgotten.

May his memory be a blessing. 🕊️