Noach Flug

JERUSALEM, Israel – Noach Flug, president of the International Auschwitz Committee and chairman of the umbrella organization of Holocaust survivors in Israel died on Thursday, Aug. 10 in Jerusalem.  He was 86.
Born in Lodz, Poland, in 1925, Flug and his parents were forced to move into the Lodz Ghetto in 1940, where he became a member of the Jewish underground. From there, the family was sent to a forced labor camp. In 1944, the Flugs were deported to Auschwitz, where his parents were murdered. Flug, who was an only child, also lost 100 relatives during the Holocaust.
Flug was sent to the Gross-Rosen and Mauthausen camps and, finally, to Ebense, where he was ultimately liberated by American troops. Following the war, he studied economics in Lodz and Warsaw.  He emigrated to Israel in 1958 where he worked as an economist and a diplomat.
In the diplomatic service, he represented Israel as a commercial attaché in Switzerland and Germany.
Following his retirement, Flug devoted himself to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive and fighting for the rights of Holocaust survivors. He was a prominent figure in the executive bodies of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the World Jewish Restitution Organization and Yad Vashem as well as in other organizations and institutions that deal with Holocaust-related issues. He fought for restitution of Jewish community property and for compensation to be paid to individuals.
In 2006, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by Germany’s President Horst Köhler, for promoting mutual understanding between Jews and non-Jews and between Israel and Germany. He was also decorated by the Polish Government.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and  President Shimon Peres both expressed sorrow at Flug’s passing, lauding him as someone who had been through the depths of hell, had rehabilitated himself and had devoted himself to the welfare of others.
Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev, described Flug as “first and foremost a leader of the people who worked tirelessly for the welfare of the survivors.”
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder called Flug “a towering figure in the struggle for the rights of Holocaust survivors.”
Noach Flug was buried at Kibbutz Anavim in the Judean hills west of Jerusalem.