One of the last surviving Soviet liberators of Auschwitz dead at 98
Dushman took part in the Red Army's operation to liberate of Auschwitz towards the end of World War II in 1945.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: JUNE 7, 2021 00:42A ONCE-DEADLY electrified barbed wire fence surrounds the site of the former Nazi Auschwitz death camp in Poland.(photo credit: KACPER PEMPEL/REUTERS)
Of the last surviving liberators of Auschwitz, David Dushman, has past away at the age of 98, according to multiple sources.Dushman took part in the Red Army's operation to liberate of Auschwitz towards the end of World War II in 1945.Dushman was a tank operator in the war, and used his T-34 Soviet tank to drive down the electrical fence trapping Holocaust victims in the confines of the infamous Nazi death camp.Later in life, Dushman went on to become a world class Olympic fencer and after that a coach for some of the world's top fencing talents.Before his death, Dushman was one of the only people who could still recount the day, June 27, when the Soviet Union liberated the Nazi death camp that claimed the lives of millions.He just turned 98 around a few weeks ago, and earned honors from the Jewish Community of Vienna on that day - as he lived in Austria during the 1990s.He also earned numerous honors and medals for his bravery throughout his lifetime, from numerous other sources and organizations.While a hero to the Jewish community, Dushman and his family experienced many hardships as Jews living in the Soviet Union, according to Globe.The report states his father fell victim to one of the Stalin massacres and died while working in a labor camp.Globe adds that as a fencing coach for the Soviet Union women's national fencing team, in 1972 during the Munich Olympics, he stated that he lived closely with the eleven Israeli athletes who were kidnapped by operatives of the Palestinian terror organization Black September.He lived out his final years in the same city, living in Munich for a quarter-century until his passing this week.
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