On 17 November, the Auschwitz survivor Paul Sobol died in Brussels aged 94. Christoph Heubner, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, paid tribute as follows:

“It is with great sorrow and gratitude that Auschwitz survivors throughout the world are bidding farewell to their friend and companion Paul Sobol. Paul and his sister Betsy were the only members of their family to survive the Holocaust. After many years of silence, Paul Sobol became one of the great European witnesses of the times. He spent the last decades of his life repeatedly recounting his memories and telling the world about the murder of the Jews of Europe and the causes of Auschwitz. For many years he travelled from Brussels to Germany to take part in first-hand talks with witnesses. And for many years he accompanied groups of young people from Belgium and Luxembourg on visits to the Auschwitz Memorial and the International Youth Meeting Center there. 



He was a dedicated friend of the International Youth Meeting Center in Oswiecim, an important representative of the Belgian Fondation Auschwitz, and the voice of his murdered fellow prisoners and family members. Young people in particular were impressed by his gentle friendliness and his request that they take on responsibility within democracy. He followed the revival of anti-Semitism and populist hatred in Europe with deep concern. But right up to the end he was confident that the words he passed on as a witness to the young people had not been in vain.”