Josef Lewkowicz (15 March 1926Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database
/ref> – 26 December 2024) was a Polish-born

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

and

Nazi hunter A Nazi hunter is an individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, or SS members, and Nazi collaborators who were involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against hum ...

Holocaust

Lewkowicz was born in a

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

in southeast Poland in 1926. At the age of 13, he witnessed the

Nazi occupation of Poland Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

. By the time he was 16, he had been separated from his mother and siblings, whom he never saw again. Together with his father, Symcha, Lewkowicz was requisitioned for

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

and entered the

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

system in 1942. His father later died in the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Lewkowicz was sent to the

Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp Płaszów () or Kraków-Płaszów was a Nazi concentration camp operated by the SS in Płaszów, a southern suburb of Kraków, in the General Governorate of German-occupied Poland. Most of the prisoners were Polish Jews who were targeted f ...

operated by the SS in

Płaszów Płaszów is a suburb of Kraków, Poland, now part of Podgórze district. Formerly a separate village, it became a part of the Greater Kraków in 1911 under the Austrian Partition of Poland as the 21st cadastral district of the city. During World ...

, a southern suburb of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, in the General Governorate of German-occupied Poland. The camp was then under the command of

Amon Göth Amon Leopold Göth (; 11 December 1908 – 13 September 1946) was an Austrian SS functionary and war criminal. He served as the commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp in Płaszów in German-occupied Poland for most of th ...

, later known as the "Butcher of Płaszów", whose brutality was depicted in the film ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the historical novel '' Schindler's Ark'' (1982) by Thomas Keneally. The film follows ...

''. Lewkowicz later recounted that Goeth would kill people for looking him in the eye or for walking too slowly. Lewkowicz would ultimately spend time in six different concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Mauthausen. He was the sole survivor of his family during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

Post-war

After the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Lewkowicz became a

and worked with the U.S. military to track down Nazi SS leaders among German

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in American camps. After a few months, he encountered Göth, wearing an ill-fitting soldier's uniform. In 2023, Lewkowicz recounted to

Canadian Broadcasting Company The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its English-language and F ...

(CBC) host Susan Ormiston, "I recognized him right away ... I saw that murderer's face, I knew it very, very well." In addition to Göth, Lewkowicz identified five other high-ranking Nazi officials. All six were hanged following the

Nuremberg trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

. Lewkowicz is also credited with rescuing 600 Jewish children who were hidden in monasteries and orphanages throughout Poland to survive the war and helping to relocate them to Israel. His son had encouraged him to reconnect with them, but Lewkowicz chose not to, stating, "I want to forget it. It was such a horrible job." Lewkowicz later worked as a diamond dealer in South America, then married and raised his family in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada, before moving to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Lewkowicz refrained from speaking about his Holocaust experiences for much of his life. He had the Auschwitz tattoo on his arm removed by a plastic surgeon in South America, a decision he later expressed regret over. He began speaking publicly about his Holocaust experiences following the urging of his children and the encouragement of Rabbi Naftali Schiff, who has focused on preserving final witness testimonies. This collaboration led to the creation of the book ''The Survivor'' and the 2019 documentary ''The Survivor’s Revenge'', which details his postwar experiences. Lewkowicz reflected on the challenge of conveying the human story amidst the overwhelming facts of

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

, stating in his book, "I’m conscious that giving too many examples of depravity may dilute their impact." In later years, he was involved with JRoots, a charity that organizes educational Jewish trips to Poland. He died on 26 December 2024, at the age of 98.

Media

Lewkowicz's life was chronicled in ''The Survivor'', released in the UK in March 2023. It has since been translated into 12 languages and is set to be released in the United States by Harper Horizon on 27 January 2025,

International Holocaust Remembrance Day The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an list of minor secular observances#January, international memorial day on 27 January that memorialization, commemorates Holoca ...

. The 2019 documentary ''The Survivor’s Revenge'', based on Lewkowicz's life, documents his pursuit of justice of Nazi war criminals, including

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewkowicz, Josef 1926 births 2024 deaths Jewish concentration camp survivors Nazi hunters Writers about the Holocaust