Posted on 03/11/2016 12:41:48 PM PST by Citizen Zed
Israel Kristal, a 112-year-old Israeli man who survived the Holocaust, was named the oldest man in the world by Guinness World Records on Friday.
His life has been a difficult journey that played out over some of Europe's darkest days.
Kristal was a child in Poland when World War I rattled the nation, and a young man when Germany invaded his home country, ordering his family into a ghetto.
He was sent to the Nazi's infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, but somehow managed to survive. He was the only member of his family to live through the Holocaust.
Kristal claims the title of world's oldest man at the age of 112 years and 178 days, and was awarded his certificate at his home in Haifa, Israel on Friday.
“I don’t know the secret for long life. I believe that everything is determined from above and we shall never know the reasons why," “I don’t know the secret for long life. I believe that everything is determined from above and we shall never know the reasons why," Kristal said of his longevity, according to a post from Guinness World Records. "There have been smarter, stronger and better looking men then me who are no longer alive."
According to Guinness World Records, Kristal was born near the town of Zarnow, Poland, on September 15, 1903. In the 1920's, he married and moved to Łódź in Poland to work in the family business making candy.
But the Nazi invasion of Poland and the occupation of Łódź in 1939 upended his life. Kristal was moved into the Łódź ghetto with his wife and two children in 1939.
Four years later, Kristal and his wife were sent to the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Kristal lost his wife, Chaja Feige Frucht, and their two children in the Holocaust.
Kristal just barely survived, performing labour in Auschwitz and other concentration camps, before being rescued by Allied troops in May 1945 weighing just 80 pounds.
He was the only person in his large family to survive the Holocaust.
Kristal eventually remarried and emigrated in 1950 to Israeli city of Haifa in Israel with his second wife and their son.
He continued his candy making business as his family grew.
He was officially recognized by the organization in a ceremony at his home in Haifa, Israel, on Friday, surrounded by his family.
"All that is left for us to do is to keep on working as hard as we can and rebuild what is lost,” Kristal said.
Good for him!
Looks darn good for his age.
Living well is the best revenge.
He deserves extra years. I hope gets several.
Kristal lost his wife, Chaja Feige Frucht, and their two children in the Holocaust... He was the only person in his large family to survive the Holocaust. Kristal eventually remarried and emigrated in 1950 to Israeli city of Haifa in Israel with his second wife and their son.
Second feel good story of the day.
First a 13 year old wins a gun battle with criminals, now this old Jew lives long enough to spit on the graves of the SS freaks who killed his entire family.
Hopefully the Almighty will allow him to live long enough to spit on the graves of the Islamist freaks who want to finish what Hitler started.
It just might turn out to be a nice weekend after all.
Thanks for posting.
Wow! God bless him!
You're not old, he's old!
:-)
Outstanding!
Lots of respect.
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