Polish survivor Roman Frister, a former Haaretz editor, dies

Frister, who survived the Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps, was a dual Polish and Israeli citizen.

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WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – Roman Frister, a Holocaust survivor who was a former editor of Haaretz, has died.

Frister, a dual Polish and Israeli citizen, died Monday in Poland. He was 87.

Frister survived the Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps.

He was born in 1928 in Bielsko, Poland, but fled with his parents after the outbreak of World War II to Krakow, where his mother was killed. His father died in a concentration camp in Starachowice.

Frister returned to Poland in 1947 and settled in Wroclaw. Ten years later he moved to Israel, where he worked for the Hebrew daily newspaper Haaretz, serving as editor of the weekend edition. He worked also for Radio Free Europe and the Polish section of the BBC.

He was honored by Poland with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit.

Frister will be buried on Wednesday in Warsaw.

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