Jehuda Widawski, the oldest known living man in Israel, passed away in Tel Aviv on 12 September, at the age of 107 years, 48 days.
Jehuda Widawski was born in Turek, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, on 26 July 1919, the second of four children born to parents Abraham and Leah. In 1933, the family moved to Lodz, where Widawski became active in the Hashmonaim youth movement. As a young man, he entered the textile business and, by 1936, was managing an operation employing dozens of Jewish seamstresses and supplying textile products throughout Poland.
After the German occupation of Lodz in September 1939, his family obtained an apartment in the area that would become the Lodz Ghetto. Fifteen family members lived there together. Widawski managed to bring property from the family’s home and business into the ghetto, resources that later allowed them to assist others. After the ghetto was sealed in 1940, the family continued working in textiles, while their home became the site of one of the ghetto’s early soup kitchens, where they provided food to friends and acquaintances.
In August 1944, during the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto, the family was deported to Auschwitz. Widawski’s parents, older brother Gabriel, and many other relatives were murdered there. Widawski and his brother Jehoszua survived and were later sent to the Friedland labor camp, where they were forced to produce airplane wings. In May 1945, the Germans abandoned the camp, leaving the prisoners locked inside. The Red Army liberated them the following day.
After the war, Widawski and his brother returned to Lodz, where they found their former home occupied by Poles and learned that most of their family had been murdered. Widawski rebuilt his textile business, and married Lea Dobrysz. In 1950, Widawski immigrated to Israel and settled in Tel Aviv. He established and managed several businesses, initially in textiles and later in other commercial fields.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of Jehuda Widawski during this difficult time.
