Auschwitz survivor Hermann Höllenreiner dies aged 92

Auschwitz survivor Hermann Höllenreiner has died at the age of 92, the German publisher Carl Hanser Verlag and the International Auschwitz Committee announced jointly on Monday.

According to their statement, he died on October 16 at his home in Bavaria, surrounded by his family.

Höllenreiner - known as Mano to his family - came from a large Bavarian Sinti family and survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp as well as the Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen camps.

"It was only late in life that he began to speak out, becoming a great eyewitness who spoke powerfully of the horrors of Auschwitz, of the perpetrators and victims, but above all the ongoing discrimination against the Sinti and Roma in Europe," said Christoph Heubner, executive vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee.

"Mano Höllenreiner's life story and the suffering he endured would be enough for more than one lifetime," Heubner continued. "Auschwitz survivors all over the world thank him for his courage and his humanity: Hermann Höllenreiner also spoke on their behalf."

Höllenreiner, who grew up in Munich, was deported at the age of 9. In January 1945, when he was 11, he managed to escape from an SS "death march".

The author Anja Tuckermann, who documented Höllenreiner's story, wrote that "He was found lying on a country road, completely exhausted, and was rescued by liberated French women who took him to France."

"At the end of 1946, his biological family was found in Munich, and he was reunited with them."

The Bavarian Memorials Foundation's director, Karl Freller also paid tribute to Höllenreiner.

"By sharing his story with us, he played a key role in firmly anchoring the Nazi genocide against the Sinti and Roma - and their suffering," Freller said.