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'I survived — Hitler didn't': The story of Joseph Alexander

July 15, 2023

Joseph Alexander was the only person in his family to survive the Holocaust. His parents and siblings were murdered by the Nazis. At the age of 100, Joe works tirelessly to keep their memory alive and ensure the atrocities are not forgotten.

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Joseph Alexander lives in Los Angeles. At the age of 100, he still drives a car, travels and gives lectures.

He was born with the name of Idel Alexander in Poland in 1922. Then the Nazis came. His entire family was murdered, but Alexander survived — from the Warsaw Ghetto to Auschwitz and Dachau.

After being liberated, he lived in Germany for four more years because the world at that time had no place for Jewish survivors. Then he immigrated to the United States and built a new life for himself. A good life, he said.

The responsibility he feels toward his murdered family members still drives him: he must tell their story and he must raise awareness about the Holocaust. Our reporter accompanies Alexander in his everyday life in Los Angeles and on his return to Germany and Landsberg, where he was liberated from the concentration camp by US troops 78 years ago.

A report by Hans Pfeifer.

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