Last of Israel's Holocaust Survivors, Auschwitz Survivor Who Rebuilt Cemeteries, Dies at 107

Yehuda Aaron Vydavsky, believed to be the oldest Holocaust survivor in Israel and a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, passed away on Rosh Hashanah at the age of 107. Vydavsky, who also survived the Łódź Ghetto, dedicated much of his adult life to locating, documenting, and restoring Jewish cemeteries and mass graves across Poland, identifying over 3,000 graves. Born in Poland in 1919, he was imprisoned with his family in the Łódź Ghetto after the Nazi invasion and later deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he lost his parents and most of his siblings. He survived Auschwitz and forced labor at the Freidlach camp until his liberation in 1945.

After the war, Vydavsky assisted in the Irgun's arms procurement efforts in Europe before immigrating to Israel in 1950. He established a large family, witnessing five generations. Starting in the late 1970s, he repeatedly returned to Poland to rescue historical tombstones and restore neglected Jewish burial sites.

In recognition of his work preserving historical memory, Vydavsky was chosen to light a memorial torch at Yad Vashem's official ceremony on Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2012. He was also a prominent figure within the Sochaczew and Modzhitz Hasidic courts, maintaining his clarity of mind and cheerful disposition until his final days. Vydavsky often stated that his revenge against the Nazis was their ultimate loss and the existence of the State of Israel, viewing his life as a testament to the triumph of life, memory, and revival.