Henri Kichka, Belgium’s Holocaust survivor dies of coronavirus at age 94!

Published on April 28, 2020 | Published By: shahid | In Death , Relationship , Wellness

Henri Kichka had survived the Holocaust but died now of coronavirus at the age of 94.
He was in a Brussels care home and died on Saturday 25 April 2020.

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Henri Kichka and his coronavirus death

Henri Kichka survived the Holocaust during World War II. But he now succumbed to the currently raging virus, the deadly coronavirus.

He was 94 years of age and expired on 25 April 2020 Saturday in a Brussels care home. His son Michel Kichka paid him a Facebook tribute.

He wrote on his Facebook page:

“A small microscopic coronavirus has succeeded where the entire Nazi army had failed. My father had survived the Death March, but today his Life March has ended.”

It is true the tiniest creature, the coronavirus has caused enormous devastation in the world.

About Henri Kichka’s early life

The survivor Henri Kichka was born in 1926 in Brussels Belgium. His parents were from Eastern Europe and had escaped from there due to the extensive anti-semitism prevalent at that time. They were Jewish of Polish origin. Furthermore, they wanted to start life anew in the West.

When Germany under Nazi rule invaded Belgium, Henry’s family had no place to hide. They were deported back to Poland in 1942. Additionally, the German soldiers marched through the street of their home in Rue Coenraets shouting:

“Alle Juden raus!” (All Jews out!)

His father and Henri were sent to work as slave laborers. While his mother Chana, aunt Esther, and sisters Bertha and Nicha were sent to Auschwitz where the Nazis gassed and cremated them as soon as they arrived.

And in 1945, the brutal Nazi guards took him to a German Camp. The starving prisoners were death-marched westwards as Soviet forces started to close on the countries in Eastern and Central Europe.

Henri and his later life

Henri was just a handful of the men and women who managed to survive Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp built in occupied southern Poland during World War II.

The Holocaust survivor, Henri never spoke of those bad days for many years after World War II. Furthermore, he got married and started a shop with his wife. The couple had four children. At the time of his death, he had 9 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

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Later, as the wounds healed, he started to give lectures in schools on how the past was for them. He wanted people to know about the pain and suffering of the Holocaust survivors and did not want them to forget it.

Sixty years later, Henri wrote a memoir where he described his horrific experiences of the time. He talked about his life in the camps.

Henri said:

“I was 90% dead.”

He told BBC in January 2020:

“You did not live through Auschwitz. The place itself is death.”

There was no name there of the prisoners in the camp. It was just a number tattooed on the forearm. When challenged by the guards, they had to bark out their number aloud in German.

Source: BBC News

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