Last member of 1942 Auschwitz escape dies

August Kowalczyk

WARSAW (AP) ― A spokesman for Auschwitz museum says the last surviving member of a group of prisoners that escaped the German Nazi concentration camp in 1942 has died.

Spokesman Pawel Sawicki said Monday that August Kowalczyk died Sunday at a hospice he helped found in the town of Oswiecim in southern Poland where the former camp is located. He was 90 years old.

Kowalczyk was brought to Auschwitz in December 1940. In June 1942 he was among 50 Polish inmates who tried to flee the camp while working in the fields.

Most were killed in the attempt and only nine escaped. Kowalczyk was the last known survivor.

Kowalczyk became a popular actor and spent his lifetime telling his story to younger generations.

Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were killed at Auschwitz from 1940-45.