Jacques Altmann, survivor and witness of the Shoah, died on March 13, 2026 in Paris at the age of 103 years.
Adolphe, alias Jacques Altmann was born on 3 March 1923 in Elberfeld, Germany. Her parents, Dina and Suscher, were from Poland and they met in Wuppertal, Germany. The arrival of Hitler in power led them to leave this country in 1933 and settle in France, in Nancy then in Romainville. They opened a textile shop in Romainville. Jacques joined them in 1938 after the pogrom of the "Crystal Night".
His father joined the French army voluntarily in 1940. Jacques was arrested for the first time in 1941 following a fight. Passionate about sports throughout his life, Jacques notably practiced boxing. He escaped and took refuge in Sablé in the Sarthe, then in Nantes.
His parents were arrested with his four younger brothers and they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 3 November 1942.
Jacques was arrested in March 1943 at Nantes, sent to the camp of Drancy before being transferred to the annexes of Austerlitz and Lévitan.
Jacques was deported on 10 February 1944 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. He is assigned to the kommando of "Thumwell" in the group that works on the "ramp".
In October 1944, he was transferred to Ohrdruf, a satellite camp at Buchenwald, where he was liberated by American troops in April 1945. He is the only survivor of his family.
Jacques was a figure of the Amicale d'Auschwitz and then of the Union des déportés d’Auschwitz, of which he would be the flag-bearer. For many years, he will also bear witness to the new generations.
The Shoah Memorial salutes the memory of Jacques Altmann, a witness committed to transmitting the memory of the Shoah, and sends his family its most sincere condolences.
