It has just been announced that our brother Leopold Engleitner, the oldest male survivor of the Holocaust, died in April 21 at age 107.
The oldest survivor of the concentration camps: Extraordinary story of 107-year-old who was imprisoned in THREE Nazi prisons.
The oldest survivor of the concentration camps: Extraordinary story of 107-year-old who was imprisoned in THREE Nazi prisons.
- Leopold Engleitner was given a choice - renounce your faith, or face death in a concentration camp
- The Austrian chose his religion and suffered at the hands of the Nazis in three different camps
PUBLISHED:12:32 EST, 15 November 2012| UPDATED:15:08 EST, 15 November 2012
Survivor: At 107 Austrian born Mr Engleitner is the world's oldest known holocaust survivor, and has had a film made about his unfailing faith
He refused.
At 107 Austrian born Mr Engleitner is the world's oldest known holocaust survivor, and has had a film made about his unfailing faith. Now Mr Engleitner will be guest of honour at the film's LA screening where with help of an interpreter, he will be talking to audience members. Ladder in the Lions' Den charts Engleitner's journey as survivor of three concentration camps, Buchenwald, Niederhagen and Ravensbrueck.
Born in 1905 with a curved spine and raised in a village not far from where Hitler grew up, the young Engleitner was horrified by the atrocities of World War I and joined the pacifist religious movement in the early 1930s. When Austria joined the German Reich in 1938, Jehovah's Witnesses were rounded up and unlike their Jewish counterparts, given a choice. They would be allowed to get out of the camps if they signed a paper - the Ladder in the Lions' Den - turning their back on their religion and joining the Nazis.
According to the film, the Austrian Witnesses, including Engleitner, refused to do so, with many losing their lives.
The film charts their story, and details Engleitner's own horrific ordeal. 
When Austria joined the German Reich in 1938, Jehovah's Witnesses were rounded up and unlike their Jewish counterparts, given a choice - your faith or your life
Trapped: Prisoners in block 61 of Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945. The construction of Buchenwald camp started 15 July 1937 and was liberated by US General Patton's army 11 April 1945
One scene documents the time when, starving on a march back to camp from hard labour, his testicle was crushed by an SS guard's boot, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports. The incident prevented him from ever fathering children.
Determined: Witnesses were told they would be allowed to get out of the camps if they turned their back on their religion. Engleitner refused
He added: 'Ladder in the Lions' Den takes a slice of Leo's experiences and puts them into a more direct historical context. 'You get to the significance of the stand he took as a conscientious objector, not going along with Nazism and and its ideals. The name Ladder in the Lions' Den is about Leo's experience as a Jehovah's Witness in the camps.
'A document was regularly presented to the Jehovah's Witnesses, who were conscientious objectors and who objected to the principles of Nazism, and they did not subscribe to any of the racist ideas. To get out of the camp, they were told 'just sign this document where you renounce your beliefs, say you go along with Nazism and go along with Hitler'.
'They [Jehovah's Witnesses] would also not say the 'Heil Hitler' greeting, and the film comments on that, that the words ascribe salvation to Hitler. 'They said, no, he's not God so we're not going to do that.' The survivor is still active and tours schools around his home country telling children 'You don't need to go along with peer pressure, you can stick by your conscience.'
Survivor: Leopold Engleitner survived three concentration camps including Ravensbruck (pictured)
Horrific ordeal: Despite living through terrible times at three concentration camps including Niederhagen (pictured), Mr Engleitner is still active and tours schools around his home country
This bears testament that if there is ever a war you won't be killed by a Jehovah's Witness from the "enemy" country - they never go to war, they have an international family which transcends national/political borders. The world's wars are not part of their peaceful world.
This guy shows that no matter what terrible things you go through you can still come out of it a strong person with good morals and a smile on your face. He is quite clearly a remarkable man with an incredibly strong will, and as an atheist even I must say that he is incredible for sticking so strongly to his faith. We have people like this showing their strength and courage and coming through completely terrible and inhuman incidents and still being GOOD people, and then we have daft women who have been dumped that being newly single is an excuse to abuse your kids. This guy is a hero and an inspiration!
I am so very proud to belong to the same organization as Leopold and all other Witnesses who are bear up under persecution.
One of our brothers has prepared a 27-minute video documentary as well as a song, "Unbroken Will", that was written and dedicated to him back in 2009. There is also a link on that page to one of the news articles announcing his death.
You can access that page at http://dwsilver.com/Engleitner.html
You can access that page at http://dwsilver.com/Engleitner.html
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