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February 12th, 2021 
Awake Goy February 12, 2021 by J-Wire Newsdesk
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Lotte Weiss, a survivor of Auschwitz, endeared herself in her post-war life to both the Wellington and Sydney Jewish communities. She passed this morning in Sydney. She was 97.
Lotte and granddaughter Amy Weiss. Lotte was inmate 2065 in Auschwitz.
A tribute published by the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand states: “It was with great sadness that we, at the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand (HCNZ), learnt of the recent passing of Lotte Weiss z”l.
May her memory be a blessing.
Lotte, born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1923, was interned at Auschwitz from 1942 to 1945 and liberated from Theresienstadt in May 1945. She was the sole member of her family to survive the Holocaust.
She reclaimed her life, married and migrated to New Zealand in 1949, raised a family, then moved to Sydney, Australia in 1986.
Lotte was an integral part of the Sydney Jewish Museum and she and her family have also been staunch supporters of HCNZ.
Lotte was one of eight women included in the ‘Auschwitz to Aotearoa’ exhibition and thesis developed by Anna Chapman, MA in 2014, which examined the women’s survival and the role of group formation and luck, as well as their journeys to New Zealand after the Holocaust.
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand would like to express our deepest condolences to the Weiss family. We wish them long life.”
In her book My Two Lives, Lotte wrote: ” In spite of all my sufferings and the greatest losses a human being can endure, I remain a person with hope. I still have a belief that the majority of people are decent. I hope and pray that there will be peace and harmony amongst the people of the universe”.
In Sydney, she was a luminary through her voluntary work at the Sydney Jewish Museum where she lectured schoolchildren about life in Auschwitz.
Her son Gary speaking on behalf of himself and his brother Johnny told J-Wire: “We were blessed to have Lot as our mother and so proud to know that she inspired and gave hope and optimism to many.”
Lotte Weiss
Born: Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 28 November, 1923
Died: Sydney, Australia, 12 February, 2021
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