Aleksander Laks, Brazilian Holocaust Survivor, Dies at 88

Image by youtube

By JTA July 22, 2015

Prominent Brazilian Holocaust survivor and longtime Jewish activist Aleksander Laks died at age 88.

Laks died Tuesday of a lung infection, according to Brazilian news website Surgiu. Born in Poland in 1926, Laks was held in the Lodz ghetto, as well as Auschwitz and other concentration camps, between 1940 and 1945. In 1945, he fled to Rio de Janeiro.

President of the Brazilian Association of Holocaust Survivors, Laks wrote two books, including 2000’s “The Survivor: Memoirs of a Brazilian who escaped from Auschwitz.”

Laks was passionate about sharing his life story with Jews and non-Jews, including children and youth, who would often call him “grandpa.”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO