The Paper's reporter Nan Boyi
According to a statement posted on the Internet by the German Jewish community, the last surviving soldier to participate in the liberation of Auschwitz, David Dushman, died on June 5 at the age of 98.
According to CNN (cnn) reported on June 7, a statement posted on its website by the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria said that "Auschwitz hero" Dushman died on the 5th.
"During World War II, As a soldier in the Red Army, Dushman helped liberate the infamous Nazi concentration camps." Charlotte Konobloch, head of the local Jewish community, said Dushman "saved countless lives" .
"The death of every contemporary is a loss, but the farewell to Dushman is particularly painful." Charlotte said, "He was one of the last people to be able to talk about this event from the perspective of his own experience." ”
In an interview last year, Dushman told Reuters that "we didn't know about the existence of Auschwitz" until his troops used tanks to penetrate the camp's walls.
Dushman was one of only 69 survivors of the 12,000 soldiers in his unit, but he was not unscathed, and one of his lungs was reportedly removed after a serious injury.
After retiring from the military, Dushman became a fencer and coach. According to the IOC, Dushman was the soviet union's best fencer in 1951. During his time as coach of the Soviet women's fencing team, he led athletes to win two gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
On January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz in Poland. During Nazi rule in Germany, a total of 1.1 million people were killed here, mostly Jews. In 1996, Germany designated January 27 as "Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazis."
Editor-in-Charge: Yu Xiaoxuan