Yisrael Kristal, an Israeli-Polish holocaust survivor holding the record of oldest living man died Friday, according to Israeli media reports.
Kristal, a resident of the coastal city of Haifa, was given a certificate by Guinness World Records last year, acknowledging his status as the oldest known man living.He was born September 15, 1903 in Poland.
In 1920, he moved to Łódź in Poland to work in the family confectionary business.
Following the Nazi invasion of Poland and the occupation of Łódź, Kristal was moved into the Łódź ghetto with his family in 1939.
Four years later, he was sent to Auschwitz. Kristal lost his wife, Chaja Feige Frucht, and their two children in the Holocaust.
Kristal himself survived, performing backbreaking slave labor in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. He was rescued from the brink of death by the Allies in May 1945 weighing only 37 kilos.
A sole survivor of a large family, he emigrated in 1950 to the city of Haifa with his second wife and their son.
{Matzav.com}
It was with much interest I read the story of Yisrael Kristal. He was an inspiration and a testament to God’s great power to bring good and happiness out of the depths of evil and sorrow. It is a Great God that Israel has and He will never abandon his people. God Bless Yisrael Kristal and the many healthy and prosperous generations that will continue to follow him.
His Neshuma should have an aliya. He already went through gehenim.