/ 13 October 2021

Vale Eddie Jaku

Image source: Sydney Jewish Museum
Image source: Sydney Jewish Museum

The man who called himself ‘the happiest man on Earth’, Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku, has died at 101yo. Born in Germany in 1920, he survived WWII after a series of close escapes. After years on the run, the Nazis sent Eddie and his family to Auschwitz. That’s where his parents were murdered as the war neared an end in 1945. Eddie escaped a ‘death march’ before being found by Allied soldiers, and he came to Australia in 1950 with his wife Flores. Here, he became an integral part of Sydney’s Jewish community, and his quest to educate others about intolerance saw him honoured with an Order of Australia. Describing himself as “the happiest man on Earth,” he said “life is what you want it to be, life is in your hands.” PM Scott Morrison said “Eddie chose to make his life a testimony of how hope and love can triumph over despair and hate.”

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