Auschwitz survivor Benjamin Orenstein dies at 94

In January 1945, he joined the death march and arrived to the concentration camp of Dora. Eventually, he was liberated in April 1945 when the US military liberated the camp.

By SARAH CHEMLA
THE LIBERATION of Auschwitz is the opening image of 'Liberation-The First Moments.' (photo credit: Courtesy)
THE LIBERATION of Auschwitz is the opening image of 'Liberation-The First Moments.'
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Benjamin Orenstein, a famous survivor of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp, died on Thursday in France at age 94. 
Orenstein's Auschwitz tattoo was "B4416."
After Klaus Barbie's trial in Lyon in 1987, Orenstein started testifying in front of hundreds of students across France, from high schools to universities, recalling his story in an effort for future generations to never forget what happened during those dark times.
By testifying, he intended to make the students "witnesses of witnesses," so that "Never Again" can be perpetuated through the future generations. 
Orenstein went back to Poland to lead memorial tours with schools and organizations, guiding the students into the death camps of Auschwitz, explaining to them, through his experience, what he and millions of others went through during the World War II.
Orenstein was born in 1926 into a Jewish family from Poland. In 1941 he was sent to a work camp by the occupying Nazis. When his family was arrested in autumn 1942, Orenstein was sent to the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
 
In January 1945, he joined the death march and arrived to the concentration camp of Dora. Eventually, he was liberated in April 1945 when the US military liberated the camp.
 
From his family - his father, his mother, his three brothers, his sister, his aunt and his eight-year-old niece - no one survived, except him. 
 
After the end of the war, he settled in the French city of Lyon. 
Many people and personalities took to social media in mourning of Benjamin Orenstein. 

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The Israeli Mission to the UN in Geneva wrote that it was deeply saddened by his passing. 

 The European Jewish Congress also expressed its sadness on Twitter with the following statement. 

Alain Jakubowicz, President of League Against Racism and Antisemitism (LICRA), also made a statement on the social media. 



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