Branko Lustig dead – Oscar-winning Schindler’s List producer and Auschwitz survivor dies aged 87 – The Sun
SCHINDLER'S List producer and Auschwitz survivor Branko Lustig has died aged 87.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker passed away in his native Croatia, the Jewish movie festival Tolerance confirmed.
Lustig, who also survived the Nazi death camp Bergen-Belsen, is best-known for winning Academy Awards for Best Picture for Steven Spielberg's 'Schindler's List' and for Ridley Scott's Gladiator.
After learning of Lustig's death, Gladiator actor Russell Crowe shared a touching tribute on Twitter.
He wrote: "Branko Lustig has passed. What an amazing life he led. From the horrors of WWII to the glory of two Academy Awards. He said to me once: 'You disagree with me a lot, but you're always my friend on the days I need you.' Yes. Much love Branko. Always your friend."
He kissed my number and said, ‘You will be my producer'
Lustig was born 1932 in Osijek, a Croatian city which was then part of Yugoslavia.
He lost many family members in concentration camps, including his dad and his grandmother.
Liat Benhabib, director of the Yad Vashem Visual Centre in Jerusalem, said Lustig's life story is "interwoven with the tragic history of the Holocaust".
He added: "He made it his life's mission to tell the story of the Holocaust."
Croatia's capital Zagreb declared Lustig an honorary citizen for promoting democratic values, culture and tolerance.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said: "Only a supreme act of creation could express the horrific experience of a boy who has known life and death in the Nazi death camps."
In the 1980s, after making several films, Lustig moved to Los Angeles, where he met director Steven Spielberg, of whom Lustig later referred to as his "only friend in Hollywood".
He made it his life's mission to tell the story of the Holocaust
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter from 2014, Lustig said that when he told Spielberg his story, the director kissed the camp number tattooed on his arm.
He recalled: “He kissed my number and said, ‘You will be my producer.'
"He is the man who gave me the possibility to fulfill my obligation."
And accepting his Oscar for the picture, Lustig said: “It is a long way from Auschwitz to this stage."
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, he recalled the week after he arrived in Auschwitz. The guards had erected gallows to hang seven prisoners – and Lustig stood in the front row.
He told the publication: “Moments before they were hanged, before the bench was kicked out from them, they all said as one: ‘Remember how we died and tell to the world how we died and tell the story about us.' This, I remember.”
When Auschwitz was liberated, Lustig heard the sound of bagpipes as the British Army marched in.
"I remember thinking," he said, "that I had finally died and that was the angels' music in heaven."
He was reunited with his mother, one of the few members of his family to survive the Holocaust.
I remember thinking that I had finally died and that was the angels' music in heaven
He said: "It was a miracle, a fortune. You see, in all my life there has always been something of fortune, dedication, destiny."
Lustig returned to Croatia ten years ago.
Speaking about his decision to return after years spent in Hollywood, he said he “came back to die,” according to the Festival of Tolerance, who announced the producer's death on its website.
He reportedly told a local news outlet: “Hollywood is beautiful, I met great actors, worked with them, but still this is my country and I have experienced a lot here – both beautiful and distressing.
Branko Lustig on surviving Auschwitz
Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi death camps, was the scene of the most appalling mass murder in human history.
During the Holocaust over a million people – the vast majority of them Jews – lost their lives at the sprawling complex.
Auschwitz concentration camp was constructed in the suburbs of the Polish city Oświęcim, near the modern nation's southern border, in 1940.
When it was complete, it held around 15,000 inmates in appallingly cramped conditions, with numbers sometimes rising above 20,000.
One of those inmates was Branko Lustig. He was just 12 when the camp was liberated.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, he recalled the week after he arrived in Auschwitz. The guards had erected gallows to hang seven prisoners – and Lustig stood in the front row.
He told the publication: “Moments before they were hanged, before the bench was kicked out from them, they all said as one: ‘Remember how we died and tell to the world how we died and tell the story about us.' This, I remember.”
When Auschwitz was liberated, Lustig heard the sound of bagpipes as the British Army marched in.
"I remember thinking," he said, "that I had finally died and that was the angels' music in heaven."
He was reunited with his mother, one of the few members of his family to survive the Holocaust.
He said: "It was a miracle, a fortune. You see, in all my life there has always been something of fortune, dedication, destiny."
"I also have a lot of friends here, I have a lot of acquaintances in America, but only Spielberg is my friend."
Earlier this year, Lustig was named an honorary citizen of the City of Zagreb for his contributions to society and art.
No further details regarding Lustig's death have been released.
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