August Kowalczyk, the last surviving member of a small group of prisoners who escaped from Auschwitz in 1942, died earlier this week at age 90.
As a Polish soldier fighting the Nazis, Kowalczyk was captured and sent to the German concentration camp in December 1940, when it was used mainly for Polish military and political prisoners.
He was among a group of 50 prisoners who attempted an escape in June 1942.
All but nine were killed, and Kowalczyk was believed to be the last survivor of the group, according to jewishjournal.com.
Kowalczyk may have benefitted from being born in Oświęcim, very near where the Auschwitz camp was built.
After escaping from the camp he hid in the forest and was sheltered in the attic of a house for seven weeks in the village of Boszowy. He then travelled under false documents to Silesia and Krakow.
