As of: 08/05/2022 5:46 p.m
The Czech Holocaust survivor Felix Kolmer had often reported about his fate. He has now died at the age of 100. The International Auschwitz Committee praised him as a “great contemporary witness and philanthropist”.
Czech Holocaust survivor and physicist Felix Kolmer has died at the age of 100. This was announced by the International Auschwitz Committee, of which he was Vice-Chairman. The committee praised him as a “great contemporary witness and philanthropist”.
With “his quiet and persistent friendliness” he managed to bring people together and let them share in the memories of survivors. And further: “Felix Kolmer will be sorely missed in the current conflicts in view of the development of anti-Semitism and right-wing extremist hatred.”
He also discussed with right-wing extremists
For decades Kolmer appeared as a contemporary witness in front of young people and school classes. He was also involved in the Federal Association for Information and Counseling for Victims of Nazi Persecution. He received numerous awards, including the Federal Cross of Merit and the Order of Merit of Saxony.
“For many years, Felix Kolmer, as a contemporary witness, sought dialogue with young people in Germany and other European countries and did not shy away from discussions with right-wing extremists,” emphasized the Executive Vice President of the committee, Christoph Heubner.
As “one of the most important and credible bridge builders” he worked for reconciliation between Czechs and Germans until the last months of his life. Kolmer’s commitment to compensation for all survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps and forced laborers will not be forgotten.
Kolmer was deported in 1941
Kolmer was born on May 3, 1922 into an assimilated Jewish family in Prague. The German occupiers deported the young carpenter’s apprentice to the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1941 as part of the so-called reconstruction commando. His mother died there. According to his own statement, Kolmer discovered an escape route in Terezin, but did not use it himself to escape. Instead, he passed on his knowledge to fellow prisoners. In 1944 he was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, where he jumped on a train to the Friedland satellite camp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. There he experienced the end of the war.
Kolmer “never let hatred poison his life”
After the war he found his wife Liana, whom he had married in Theresienstadt. He studied and became a recognized expert in the field of acoustics. He published around 200 scientific articles and books. From 1982 to 2017 Kolmer taught as a professor in the department of audio engineering at the Prague film school FAMU.
Heubner said Kolmer never let his life be poisoned by hate, even though he lost his mother and other relatives to the Nazis. Nevertheless, Kolmer once said in retrospect: “You can’t forgive murder”.