Last of Soviet soldiers who liberated Auschwitz dies at 98

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BERLIN (AP) — David Dushman, the last surviving Soviet soldier involved in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, has died. He was 98.

The Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria said Sunday that Dushman had died at a Munich hospital on Saturday.

“Every witness to history who passes on is a loss, but saying farewell to David Dushman is particularly painful,” said Charlotte Knobloch, a former head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews. “Dushman was right on the front lines when the National Socialists’ machinery of murder was destroyed.”

As a young Red Army soldier, Dushman flattened the forbidding electric fence around the notorious Nazi death camp with his T-34 tank on Jan. 27, 1945.



FILE - In this Friday, May 8, 2015 file photo, Soviet war veteran David Dushman, 92, center, speaks to people holding Ukrainian flags as he attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Russian War Memorial in the Tiergarten district of Berlin, Germany. Dushman, the last surviving Allied soldier involved in the liberation of Auschwitz, has died. The Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria said Sunday, June 6, 2021 that Dushman had died a day earlier in a Munich hospital at the age of 98. As young Red Army soldier, Dushman flattened the forbidding fence around the notorious Nazi death camp with his tank on Jan. 27, 1945. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-sports-government-and-politics-b60e95de7f8da54a8ba3f8fd47e983cb

[The Wizard]

1. A war hero

[SheltieLover]

2. ...

[keithbvadu2]

3. As the witnesses to history die off.

As the witnesses to history die off.

Eisenhower and others knew that the death camps would have to be fully documented because there would be people who would deny their very existence

[johnthewoodworker]

4. Sounds like he did some good things during the WWII. Sorry he died. Conversely, the Trumptard former

president craps his pants, and is not smart but manages to stay alive.

[UpInArms]

5. One of the 69 (from the 12,000 unit) who survived

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/07/europe/david-dushman-auschwitz-intl-hnk/index.html

Dushman was just one of just 69 men in his 12,000-person unit to survive the war, but he did not leave unscathed. One of his lungs was removed after he was seriously wounded, according to Reuters.

[oasis]

6. He must have had many an interesting conversation during his life.

Rest in Peace friend.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Too bad his service did not prevent his own country turning into a Nazi like authoritarian state.

[DinahMoeHum]

8. He was also a world-renowned fencing coach. . .

. . .coaching the (then) Soviet Union's Olympic fencing teams from 1952 to 1988.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/obituaries/david-dushman-dead-auschwitz-liberator.html

Mr. Dushman became the top-ranked fencer in the Soviet Union in 1951 and went on to become a coach at the elite Spartak Moscow sports club from 1952 to 1988. He also coached the women’s Soviet national team in fencing. Well into his 90s, he would take the subway to a Munich sports club three times a week to fence.

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, his fencing team won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals. But the victories were overshadowed by the terrorists’ attack on the Israeli team, who were housed across from the Soviet athletes in the Olympic Village.

“We heard shots and the buzz of helicopters above us,” he recalled. “We and all of the other athletes were outraged.”