Berish Orbach, a Holocaust survivor and one of the last people smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto, has died in Melbourne at the age of 105. Until just months before his passing, he remained active and mentally sharp. He marked his 105th birthday last August surrounded by community members and received congratulatory letters from King Charles of England and the Prime Minister of Australia.

Born in Poland in 1920, Orbach lost his mother to typhus as an infant. He later escaped the Warsaw Ghetto in March 1943 with the help of his brother Mordechai, a member of the anti-German underground, who provided him with forged documents and a police uniform. Mordechai was later killed, and most of Orbach’s family perished during the Holocaust.

After surviving the war in hiding, Orbach emigrated to Australia in 1947, where he built a successful knitting business in Melbourne. He married his wife Tova in 1955, and she passed away 15 years ago. Orbach continued sharing memories of his childhood and survival until shortly before his death.