“It’s a long way from Auschwitz to this stage.”

Branko Lustig was born on June 10, 1932, in Yugoslavia to Croatian Jewish parents. Most of his family was later murdered in the Holocaust. Branko was imprisoned in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps and weighed only 66 lbs. when he was liberated.

Lustig moved from Europe to the U.S. in 1988 and soon met Steven Spielberg. Almost 50 years from his liberation, Lustig received an Oscar for producing Schindler’s List, as seen in this video. “I hope I fulfilled my duty to the innocent victims of the Holocaust.”

He passed away in 2019 at the age of 87.

May his memory be a blessing.