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Obituaries

Salamo Arouch | Boxer, Nazi survivor, 86

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Salamo Arouch, 86, a Jewish boxer who survived the Auschwitz death camp by fighting exhibition bouts for Nazi officers and inspired a Hollywood movie about his life, died Sunday in Israel, the Haaretz newspaper reported.

Haaretz did not give the cause or place of the Greek-born fighter's death but quoted daughter Dalia Gonen as saying he had been unwell since a stroke 15 years ago.

Born in the town of Saloniki, Mr. Arouch became middleweight champion of the Balkans, but his professional career was cut short by World War II and the German invasion of his homeland. Like thousands of other Saloniki Jews, he and his family were deported to Auschwitz.

Mr. Arouch, ordered by the Nazis to fight other prisoners for their entertainment, survived the camp. At the end of the war he immigrated to British-ruled Palestine and saw the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948. His story was the basis for the 1989 movie Triumph of the Spirit, starring Willem Dafoe.

- AP

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