Professor Felix Kolmer, the Czech-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and Czech Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, passed away this morning at the Hagibor retirement home in Prague aged 100.

Felix Kolmer, who was deported to Theresienstadt in 1941 and to Auschwitz in 1944, was liberated at the age of 23 in a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen concentration camp. After the war Felix Kolmer studied physics and later became an internationally recognized expert in acoustics at the Technical University of Prague. 

In Berlin, Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute to Felix Kolmer as follows:

“Soon after his liberation from the camps, Felix Kolmer decided never to let his life be blighted by hatred, despite the fact that he had lost his mother and other relatives in Theresienstadt and different camp. For many years Felix Kolmer joined in exchanges with young people in Germany and other countries of Europe and never shied away from discussions with far-right extremists. His commitment to reconciliation between Czech and German people was reflected in his long-standing work for the Czech-German Fund for the Future. Even into the last months of his life Felix Kolmer remained one of the most prominent and credible bridge builders in the conversation between Czech and German people. Many of those who had shared a similar fate remember him for his determined stand on behalf of all survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps, as well as the survivors of the forced labour camps. For many years as chairman of the Cologne-based Advice Centre for Survivors of Nazi Persecution he stood up for the interests of those who had suffered a similar fate to himself. Felix Kolmer was a holder of the Federal German Cross of Merit and the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony, as well as other notable awards.

It is with deep sorrow that Auschwitz survivors are bidding farewell to their fellow sufferer and companion Felix Kolmer, an outstanding witness of the times and an exemplary humanitarian. The survivors will never forget how Felix Kolmer managed to bring people together and share the memories and experiences of all Holocaust survivors, with his distinctively gentle and patient friendliness. He was strongly shaped by his deep-rooted ties with the scouting movement, and even in his old age Felix Kolmer remained a motivator and networker who always managed to inspire and bring people closer together. We will sorely miss Felix Kolmer in these present times as we confront increasing anti-Semitism and extreme far-right hatred.”