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Arno Lustiger
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<h2 id="life">Life</h2> <p>Lustiger was born and grew up in <a href="/facts/B%25C4%2599dzin/qzM8vIog">Będzin</a> in the Polish portion of <a href="/facts/Upper_Silesia/NHm8MPN6">Upper Silesia</a>. His father, David Lustiger, City Councillor of Będzin, had a company making machines for bread production. In 1939 the company was confiscated by the Nazis, but David Lustiger stayed in the company as a worker. In the beginning of 1943 the Jewish population of Będzin was detained in the <a href="/facts/B%25C4%2599dzin_ghetto/YvEv9U18">Będzin ghetto</a>. The Lustiger family were able to hide in a cellar. In August 1943, the ghetto was closed and the population was deported to the concentration camp <a href="/facts/Auschwitz_concentration_camp/6o3xax0D">Auschwitz-Birkenau</a>. A few days later, the family voluntarily went to a camp of forced workers in <a href="/facts/G%25C3%25B3ra_%25C5%259Awi%25C4%2599tej_Anny/6MKITg4t">Annaberg</a>, <a href="/facts/Silesia/SHDHG2MD">Silesia</a>, in order to remain together as a family. </p><p>However, the family was torn apart. Lustiger was deported to the concentration camp Ottmuth and later to <a href="/facts/Blechhammer_concentration_camp/kn7us6Th">Blechhammer</a>, a <a href="/facts/List_of_subcamps_of_Auschwitz/vdzcXTaA">subcamp of Auschwitz</a>. Starting from January 21, 1945 Lustiger had to join the <a href="/facts/Death_march/E9cGT1eu">death march</a> during the freezing winter towards the <a href="/facts/Gross-Rosen_concentration_camp/yytc0LMX">Gross-Rosen concentration camp</a> in Lower Silesia, as the Soviet troops were approaching. Only half of the 4.000 inmates survived the death march. Later he was deported to <a href="/facts/Buchenwald_concentration_camp/rTlFCJI9">Buchenwald concentration camp</a> and to the <a href="/facts/Langenstein-Zwieberge/EjUA5odc">Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp</a> near <a href="/facts/Halberstadt/9sUMVaRQ">Halberstadt</a>. There the expectancy of life was around three or four weeks. </p><p>In April 1945 Lustiger escaped during another death march, when the concentration camp was closed due to the approaching American troops. He was rescued by American soldiers and became a uniformed and armed translator of the <a href="/facts/United_States_Army/WACWBEK9">US Army</a>. </p><p>Since the end of the Second World War Lustiger had lived in <a href="/facts/Frankfurt_am_Main/Pw4Xj9A4">Frankfurt</a> and had built up a successful company for ladies' fashion. He had written articles about German-Jewish history, the <a href="/facts/Spanish_Civil_War/YykcMvC5">Spanish Civil War</a>, the Jewish resistance and the persecution of Jews by <a href="/facts/Joseph_Stalin/SHtxGyQn">Joseph Stalin</a>. From 2004 to 2006 he was visiting professor at the <a href="/facts/Fritz_Bauer/CCmRxjNn">Fritz-Bauer-Institute</a> in Frankfurt.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p><p>On January 27, 2005, Arno Lustiger held a speech in front of the <a href="/facts/Bundestag/RN6CPKa2">German Bundestag</a> together with <a href="/facts/Wolf_Biermann/DsXYP9gJ">Wolf Biermann</a>. On September 10, 2006, his essay (printed in the <i><a href="/facts/Frankfurter_Allgemeine_Sonntagszeitung/RuAvTR3E">Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung</a></i>) criticised <a href="/facts/G%25C3%25BCnter_Grass/kwpHn1xn">Günter Grass</a>'s treatment of his <a href="/facts/Waffen-SS/KBYTW6jY">Waffen-SS</a> membership in his latest book. </p><p>On May 15, 2012, Lustiger died in <a href="/facts/Frankfurt_am_Main/Pw4Xj9A4">Frankfurt am Main</a>, <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">Germany</a>. He was 88.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="awards">Awards</h2> <ul><li>1984 – <a href="/facts/Bundesverdienstkreuz/k61E5k2R">Bundesverdienstkreuz</a> (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany)</li> <li>1994 – Bundesverdienstkreuz Ist class</li> <li>1999 – <a href="/facts/Moses_Mendelssohn/GAqfd7uz">Moses Mendelssohn award</a></li> <li>1999 – <a href="/facts/Goethe_Plaque_of_the_City_of_Frankfurt/1MWwTLrS">Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt</a></li> <li>2000 – International Brücke award of <a href="/facts/G%25C3%25B6rlitz/dhI12d3p">Görlitz</a></li> <li>2001 – Heinz-Galinski-prize (shared with <a href="/facts/Wolf_Biermann/DsXYP9gJ">Wolf Biermann</a>)</li> <li>2003 – <a href="/facts/Honorary_doctorate/yVVgQ6Wt">Honorary doctorate</a> of <a href="/facts/University_of_Potsdam/ynLyefs5">University of Potsdam</a></li> <li>2007 – <a href="/facts/Professor/JNqot4sU">Professor</a> of <a href="/facts/Hessen/kEmEjUK9">Hessen</a></li> <li>2009 – Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz (Grand Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany)</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://www.juedischesmuseum.de/en/explore/documents-and-photos/detail/arno-lustiger-legacy/">Arno Lustiger's legacy</a> in the <a href="/facts/Jewish_Museum_Frankfurt/3G1FsSHx">Jewish Museum Frankfurt</a> with a list of his publications.</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Arno Lustiger verstorben (in German) in Jüdische Allgemeine, May 16, 2012 <a href="http://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/article/view/id/13036" target="_blank">http://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/article/view/id/13036</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"Arno Lustiger, historian and Holocaust survivor, dies at 88". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. May 16, 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120518103449/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/16/3095621/historian-holocaust-survivor-arno-lustiger-dies" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120518103449/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/16/3095621/historian-holocaust-survivor-arno-lustiger-dies</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Gastprofessur am Fritz Bauer Institut Prof. Dr. h.c. Arno Lustiger" (in German). Fritz Bauer Institut. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2010. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110725191302/http://www.fritz-bauer-institut.de/gastprofessur/lustiger.htm#vita" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110725191302/http://www.fritz-bauer-institut.de/gastprofessur/lustiger.htm#vita</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"Arno Lustiger, historian and Holocaust survivor, dies at 88". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. May 16, 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120518103449/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/16/3095621/historian-holocaust-survivor-arno-lustiger-dies" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120518103449/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/16/3095621/historian-holocaust-survivor-arno-lustiger-dies</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Arno Lustiger – Historiker des jüdischen Widerstands (in German), May 16, 2012 <a href="https://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article106323626/Arno-Lustiger-Historiker-des-juedischen-Widerstands.html" target="_blank">https://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article106323626/Arno-Lustiger-Historiker-des-juedischen-Widerstands.html</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>