This week we mourn the passing of Ernie Michel. Holocaust survivor and champion of survivors, celebrated Jewish communal professional, author and storyteller, Ernie represented the arc of Jewish life in the 20th century.

Born in Germany in 1923, Ernie was sent to a concentration camp at age 16. After almost six years in places like Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna-Monowitz, Buchenwald, and Berga — he escaped from a death march shortly before the end of World War II. After the war, he became a journalist, the only survivor to cover the Nuremberg trials. His byline: “Ernst W. Michel, Auschwitz prisoner #104995” — referencing the number tattooed on his arm.

In 1947, Ernie joined the staff of the United Jewish Appeal, ultimately serving as executive vice president from 1970 to 1989. It was Ernie who oversaw the merger that created UJA-Federation of New York.

Ernie also initiated and chaired the highly publicized World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Israel in 1981, bringing together — for the first and only time — 6,000 survivors and their families from 23 countries and four continents. At the event, Ernie shared a quiet moment at the Western Wall with Menachem Begin, which he later wrote: “was a fitting climax to the greatest experience of my life.”

In another notable achievement, Ernie successfully persuaded the Mormon Church in 1995 to withdraw from church records almost 400,000 names of Jewish Holocaust victims who’d been posthumously baptized.

Using his prominence to draw attention to the needs of others, Ernie was a tireless advocate for Holocaust survivors and launched UJA’s Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors, which provides aid to Holocaust survivors in need living in New York and Israel.

For all this, Ernie, who never completed his formal education, was awarded an honorary doctorate by Yeshiva University.

At Ernie’s funeral, Rabbi Michael Paley movingly spoke about how fitting it was that Ernie died in the days between Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and Yom HaAtzma’ut (Israel Independence Day) — commemorating the two events that bridged his life. As Ernie said, “In the 20th century, we experienced the Holocaust, the rebirth of the State of Israel, and the Ingathering of Exiles. I was a participant in all three.”

Ernie never tired of telling his story, determined that what happened to the Jews of Europe should never happen again. And he never stopped radiating optimism, always feeling lucky that despite the numbers on his arm, he had survived for a reason — to devote himself to bearing witness and helping the Jewish people worldwide.

Ernie enjoyed working on mosaics, creating something beautiful out of stone fragments. The last four he made spelled out the words “hope,” “faith,” “love,” and “peace” — the perfect embodiment of his life.

Yehi zichro baruch — May his memory be a blessing.

Shabbat shalom