Holocaust Survivor Yehuda Aharon Widawski Dies at 107

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

Born in Poland in 1919, Widawski survived Auschwitz and Nazi forced labor while losing much of his family during the Holocaust. Only he and his brother survived the selection at Auschwitz.

After liberation in 1945, Widawski rebuilt his life in Israel with his family. But he never forgot the Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust.

In 1978, he returned to Poland searching for his grandmother’s grave. Instead, he discovered devastated Jewish cemeteries and began a lifelong mission to restore them. His work helped identify and restore more than 3,000 graves in Łódź and other parts of Poland.

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, Widawski gave a powerful answer: they lost, Israel survived, and the Jewish people were free.

He lived to see five generations of descendants and continued sharing his story of survival, faith and remembrance.

At 107, Yehuda is gone—but the graves he restored and the memories he preserved will help ensure those who were murdered are never forgotten.

May his memory be a blessing. 🕊️