Draft:Oleg Mandić

Oleg Mandić (born 5 April 1933) is a Croatian author, journalist, and public speaker. He is widely recognized as the last prisoner to leave the Auschwitz concentration camp alive following its liberation in 1945.

Early life and arrest

Mandić was born in Sušak (modern-day Rijeka, Croatia) into a family of prominent intellectuals. During World War II, his father and grandfather joined the Partisan resistance. In May 1944, at the age of 11, Oleg was arrested by the SS in Opatija along with his mother and grandmother.

After being detained in Trieste, they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, Mandić was tattooed with prisoner number 189422.

Imprisonment at Auschwitz

Mandić was initially held in the men’s section of the camp but was later moved to the infirmary due to illness. This transition likely saved his life, as it exempted him from the immediate labor assignments and "selections" conducted by Nazi doctors.

During his time in the medical barracks, he encountered Josef Mengele. Mandić has often recounted the psychological terror of being under the observation of the "Angel of Death," though he was not ultimately selected for medical experimentation.

Liberation and "The Last to Leave"

When the Red Army approached in January 1945, the Nazi SS began the death marches, forcibly evacuating most prisoners. Mandić, being in the infirmary, was among the few left behind.

Following the liberation of the camp on 27 January 1945, Mandić and his family remained at the site for several weeks. Because of his family's political status and a series of bureaucratic delays, he, his mother, and his grandmother were the final civilians to officially depart the camp on 2 March 1945. This moment was captured by a Soviet film crew, showing the 11-year-old Mandić passing through the "Arbeit macht frei" gate.

Post-war career and activism

After the war, Mandić returned to Yugoslavia, eventually settling in Opatija. He worked as a journalist and became a prominent anti-fascist activist. He has spent decades traveling to schools and universities to lecture on the Holocaust, focusing on the themes of tolerance and the rejection of hatred.

In 2016, his biographical book, Oleg Mandić: Posljednji dječak iz Auschwitza (The Last Boy from Auschwitz), was published, detailing his experiences.

References

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