18 July 1930 | An Italian Jew, Sami Modiano, was born on Rhodes Island (then part of Italy). In #Auschwitz from 18 August 1944 No. B-7456 He was liberated on 27 January 1945. Today, he turns 96.

"Indifference is the epitome of evil." / „We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented" (Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born Jewish writer, Auschwitz survivor, Peace Nobel Prize laureate who passed away on 2 July 2016) --- Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

With great sadness, we received information of the passing of Albrecht Weinberg, a German-Jewish Auschwitz Survivor. Albrecht Weinberg was born in 1925 in Rhauderfehn in East Frisia. Deported to Auschwitz in 1943, he later survived Mittelbau-Dora, Bergen-Belsen, and the death marches. After the war, he emigrated to the United States. In his 80s, he returned to Germany and became an important witness to the Holocaust and an advocate for remembrance. He spent years teaching about the atrocities he endured. Albrecht Weinberg was 101 years old. (Photo: Shahar Azran / WJC)