William Basch, Holocaust Survivor dies at 82

Wallenberg Endowment recipient and renowned Holocaust survivor, William Basch, whose story was told in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 Academy Award-winning documentary, “The Last Days,” died Oct. 26 at 82.

Basch was born in a small agricultural village, Szaszovo, in the Carpathian Mountains (now Ukraine). He survived both the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps in Germany and helped save Jews through his work in the resistance movement in Budapest, Hungary.

Basch devoted his later years to educating elementary and middle school students in the United States and Germany about the Holocaust and the importance of tolerance.

He has been honored by the former president of Germany, former Vice President Al Gore, members of the U.S. Congress and was received at a special showing of “The Last Days” attended by legislators and justices of the Supreme Court. Basch was a close friend of the late Congressman Tom Lantos and his wife, Annette.

Basch lived in the Marina del Rey area for the past 30 years and was a founding member of Sinai Temple. 

He is survived by his daughters, Esther (Marc) Katzman and Nanette Basch; son, Martin (Maria) Basch; grandchildren, Rhiann Katzman, Jaclyn Katzman, Heidi Basch, Maxwell Basch and Abel Basch; sister, Edith Tyler; and brother, Ted Basch.