Last survivor of the first Auschwitz convoy who escaped the death camp in 1943 and hid in Poland dies age 96
- Last surviving inmate of first Auschwitz convoy Kazimierz Albin has died aged 96
- He was captured and placed in the death camp in 1940, and escaped in 1943
- ‘[We were] half way across the Sola River when I heard the siren,’ he recalled
- From 1998 Albin was a member of advisory International Auschwitz Council
Albin was placed in the death camp in 1940 and managed to escape in 1943 (Pictured: Albin talks to tourists at Auschwitz museum in January 2005)
The last surviving inmate from the initial transport of Poles to the German Nazi camp, has died aged 96.
Auschwitz’s press office said that Kazimierz Albin died on Monday, according to his family.
Albin was placed in the death camp in 1940 and managed to escape in 1943.
The Polish national was born in Krakow in 1922, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The Germans caught Albin in 1940 as he fled occupied Poland to join Polish armed forces abroad.
His intention was to join the Polish Army in France.
He was imprisoned and in June of that year put on the first transport to Auschwitz, where he became inmate number 118.
He was one of the 140,000 to 150,000 non-Jewish Polish prisoners in the concentration camp, half of whom died there, according to Auschwitz museum estimates.
He escaped on the night of on February 27, 1943, along with six other inmates.
The escapees crossed a waterway passing through the southern Polish city of Oswiecim.
In an interview with AFP, Albin recalled that winter’s night, saying; ‘It was a starry night, around minus 8 or minus 10 degrees Celsius (17 or 14 Fahrenheit) outside.’
He was imprisoned and in June of that year put on the first transport to Auschwitz, where he became inmate number 118 (Pictured: Children behind barbed wire fence at concentration camp)
In an interview with AFP, Albin recalled that winter’s night, saying; ‘It was a starry night, around minus 8 or minus 10 degrees Celsius (17 or 14 Fahrenheit) outside’ (Pictured: Some of the few surviving prisoners of Auschwitz)
‘We took our clothes off and were half way across the Sola River when I heard the siren… ice floes surrounded us.’
After a few days Albin arrived in Nazi-controlled Krakow where he remained in hiding under the false name of Franciszek Makowski.
Albin went on to serve as head of the resistance Home Army’s small sabotage actions division in Krakow.
From 1998 he was a member of the advisory International Auschwitz Council of former inmates and historians.
He was imprisoned and in June of that year put on the first transport to Auschwitz, where he became inmate number 118 (stock image)