Oldest known Holocaust survivor who refused to give up his Jehovah's Witness faith dies aged 107



It has been confirmed that Leopold Engleitner died aged 107 on April 21

He was arrested with a group of Jehovah's Witnesses in Austria in 1939

Despite being offered release he refused to give up his faith

Survived three concentration camps and years of slave labour



His life story is told in the book and film 'Unbroken Will', leading to a series of tours of the US and Europe

One of the oldest surviving holocaust survivors Leopold Engleitner died this month aged 107

One of the oldest known survivors of the holocaust who refused to renounce his faith has died aged 107.

Leopold Engleitner died on April 21 according to the Mauthausen Committee, an Austrian organization that tracks the fate of Nazi concentration camp inmates.

After refusing to give up his faith as a Jehovah's Witness, he survived three concentration camps and forced labor between 1939 and 1945.



Engleitner was born in Aigen-Voglhub, Austria, in 1905 but grew up in the city of Bad Ischl.

He became a Jehovah's Witness in 1932 after studying the bible for many years and faced religious intolerance even before the war began.



He was arrested in April 1939 with other Witnesses during a religious celebration, and four months later was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp.



Two years later, Engleitner was held at Niederhagen concentration camp in Wewelsburg, Germany.

He was offered release if he agreed to renounce his beliefs, but he refused saying he lived by God's word.



Instead, he was transferred to Ravensbruek.



He weighed just 28 kilograms - about 60 pounds - on release from the Ravensbrueck camp in 1943 after he agreed to work as farm slave laborer.

He was later ordered to report to Hitler's army, but Engleitner hid in the Tyrolean countryside until after the war ended.



Engleitner was first sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp (pictured in 1945) after he refused to renounce his faith as a Jehovah's Witness

Engleitner was arrested with a group of Jehovah's Witnesses after the German invasion of Austria (pictured) in 1938

Engleitner was able to return home on May 5 1945, but continued to work in slave labour on a farm in St Wolfgang.

Despite the end of the war, when he attempted to leave the farm in 1946, he was told by the labour bureau of Bad Ischl that his slave labor duty from the Nazi occupation was still valid.

He was finally released from that duty in April 1946 when the US army intervened.

Engleitner's life was documented in the book and film 'Unbroken Will' by Austrian film-maker and author Bernhard Rammerstorfer.

A memorial for both those who survived and those who didn't at Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 2010

As a result he toured Europe and across America three times to share his experiences.



In 2003, he was awarded the 'Silver Order of Merit of the Province of Upper Austria' by the Upper Austrian governor Josef Pühringer.

He has also received a Ring of Honour of the town of Bad Ischl and a Badge of Honour from the town of St Wolfgang.