A Holocaust survivor who dedicated his final decades to educating others about the Nazi era has passed away at 101 years old in northwestern Germany, local officials announced Tuesday.
Albrecht Weinberg died in the town of Leer just weeks after celebrating his birthday and attending the debut of a documentary about his experiences titled “Es ist immer in meinem Kopf” (“It is always in my head”), which drew hundreds of attendees, according to a city statement.
“Since returning from New York to his East Frisian home 14 years ago, Albrecht recounted tirelessly and with incredible energy his terrible experiences during the Nazi era and warned again and again against forgetting,” said Mayor Claus-Peter Horst.
Born on March 7, 1925, in Rhauderfehn near Leer, Weinberg endured imprisonment at Auschwitz, Mittelbau-Dora and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, as well as surviving three forced death marches as World War II concluded. He dedicated many years to sharing his story with high school students and community groups about the horrors he witnessed.
In a recent interview, Weinberg described how his wartime trauma continued to affect him daily. “I sleep with it, I wake up with it, I sweat, I have nightmares; that is my present,” he explained.
He expressed deep concern about preserving Holocaust memory for future generations. “When my generation is not in this world anymore, when we disappear from the world, then the next generation can only read it out of the book,” he said.
In 2017, Germany honored Weinberg with its Order of Merit, though he returned the award last year following a parliamentary vote. He protested the decision where a motion by Friedrich Merz, now Germany’s chancellor, to increase border restrictions for migrants passed with support from a far-right political party.
Israel’s German ambassador Ron Prosor honored Weinberg on social media, describing him as “a bridge — between past and present, between pain and hope, between the dead he could never forget and the young people whom he encouraged to seek the truth.”
