Holocaust survivor, activist Kurt Julius Goldstein dies at 93
German-born Goldstein immigrated to Palestine, then fought in Spanish Civil War before being turned over to Nazis.
By The Associated Press Tags: Holocaust survivorsKurt Julius Goldstein, who survived the Auschwitz death camp and went on to play a prominent role in fighting racism and anti-Semitism, has died, the International Auschwitz Committee said Tuesday. He was 93.
Goldstein died in Berlin on Monday following a brief illness, the committee, of which he was an honorary chairman, said in a statement. It did not elaborate.
Born into a Jewish merchant family in 1914, Goldstein later joined Germany's Communist Party and was forced out of the country when the Nazis came to power in 1933.
He fled to Palestine, then went to fight in an international brigade in the Spanish Civil War. When that war ended in 1939, Goldstein was arrested; he was later handed to the Nazis, who sent him to the Auschwitz death camp in occupied Poland.
At a 2005 event marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Goldstein recalled being forced onto a 1945 death march as the Red Army advanced.
He was one of fewer than 500 prisoners out of 3,000 to arrive at the Buchenwald concentration camp in central Germany.
"Auschwitz is the biggest cemetery in the whole world," Goldstein said in a speech. None of them has a memorial stone - the Nazis wanted them to be forgotten. We have a duty to prevent that.
After World War II, Goldstein settled in communist East Germany, where he worked until 1978 as the director of a leading public broadcaster.
During those years he also worked for the International Auschwitz Committee, maintaining contact with survivors on both sides of the Iron Curtain and reaching out to young people.
In 2005, Goldstein was awarded Germany's highest honor, the Bundesverdienstkreuz, in recognition of his role in promoting tolerance and fighting racism and anti-Semitism.
He is survived by his wife, Margo, and several children. There was no immediate information on funeral arrangements.
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this man lived his life as a propagandist for communism - he didnt serve G-d, he served the cause of global marxism and himself. Goldman sued the US govt. for 40M$ claiming they "benefited" from the holocaust? how could such a strong advocate for communism call himself a Jew? yes, he survived, thats a victory for all men, then he spent the rest of his life working for the enslavement of millions. how many millions were killed in russia, by the stasi in e. germany. i pray this man knew G-d in his final hour, but he lived his life serving marx.
As Goldstein was a life long Communist, I doubt G-d will be blessing the soul of this atheist. He may have been a survivor of the Holocaust but his goal (as a member of the KPD and later SED) was to replace Nazi tyranny with a tyranny of the proletariat. Disgusting that a modern democratic state (Germany) should honour an anti-democrat and supporter of an oppressive regime (the DDR).
The German communist Goldstein was driven by an ardent desire for justice and a better life for the oppressed according to ideas of Karl Marx, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg and many other German communists in 19th and early 20th century. Unfortunately German communists like him also fought the young German democracy in line with the Nazi movement leading to Hitler indeed. After the war many Germans exiled or delivered from Nazi concentration camps settled in the German Democratic Republic like Stefan Heim, Heinrich Mann or Erich Honecker dreaming of a Non-Nazi contaminated part of Germany where their basic communist ideals would become reality. Goldstein had time enough to understand historical errors and its tragedy.
know exactly 6 mio jews died in gas chamber but don`t know how many Jews survived the Holocaust. only a few 100 000. Something wrong?
... Goldstein didn't pave the way for Hitler, he fought him everywhere he could, in Germany, in Spain. And then was sent to Auschwitz.
Communists, like Goldstein, paved the way for Hitler's rise. The deceased was probably the only Jew who moved back to East Germany, where, he was "director of a leading public broadcaster", i.e. totalitarian propoganda. Goldstein, like Toyko Rose, was evil. Finally, he will be judged.
G-d bless his soul. People who spend their lives dedicated to a just caust are indeed honorable.