Antoni_Dobrowolski
Antoni Dobrowolski
Polish educator, teacher and holocaust survivor (1904–2012)
Antoni Dobrowolski (8 October 1904 – 21 October 2012) was a Polish educator, teacher and Holocaust survivor. At the time of his death in 2012, Dobrowolski was the oldest known survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.[1][2][3]
Dobrowolski was born in Wolbórz, present-day Poland, on 8 October 1904.[1]
Nazi German authorities limited the education of ethnic Polish children to only four years during the occupation of Poland in order to undermine Polish culture.[2] Despite the ban, Dobrowolski joined the Secret Teaching Organization to provide underground education in occupied Poland, according to Auschwitz historian Adam Cyra.[1] Dobrowolski was discovered and arrested in June 1942 by the Gestapo.[1] He was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was assigned the prisoner number 38081.[1] Dobrowolski later recalled that "Auschwitz was worse than Dante's hell."[2] He was transferred to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp and Sachsenhausen concentration camp, remaining a prisoner until his release in 1945.[1][2]
He moved to Dębno, Poland, following the end of World War II following his liberation.[1] He worked as an elementary school teacher, before becoming the director of a high school.[1]
Dorbrowolski died on 21 October 2012, in Dębno, Poland, at the age of 108.[1] He was the oldest known survivor of Auschwitz at the time.
