German-American Holocaust survivor Guy Stern dead at 101

German-American Holocaust survivor and author Guy Stern has died at the age of 101, the Berlin-based publishing house Aufbau announced on Friday.
As a 15-year-old in 1937, he was able to flee his hometown of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, heading alone to an uncle in the United States. His younger siblings and parents were among the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis.
In the US, Stern joined the secret World War II military intelligence interrogation team Ritchie Boys, who interrogated German war prisoners in Europe from 1944 until the end of the war.
He later worked as an academic, according to the German publisher of his autobiography.
Since his retirement in 2002, Stern had been director of the Institute for Altruism Research at the Holocaust Museum in Detroit.
Stern held several high-profile roles, as co-founder of the American Lessing Society, vice-president of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and president of the PEN Centre of German-Language Authors Abroad.
The academic received numerous awards, including the Grand Cross of Merit of Germany, the Goethe Medal and honorary citizenship of Hildesheim. He was married to the German writer Susanna Piontek and lived in the US state of Michigan.
Stern continued giving speeches and lectures at an old age, including his address to the parliament of the German state Lower Saxony in 2019.
To mark his 100th birthday, Aufbau published a German version of Stern's autobiography, Invisible Ink.
In an interview with dpa in February 2022, Stern said the achievements of democracy should not be recklessly jeopardized. "A democracy is a delicate plant that can die at any time if it is not nurtured enough," he said.
"We can currently observe what is happening around the world in countries where - often democratically elected - 'strong men' are increasingly expanding their scope of power and restricting the liberties of their people."
Stern, who was born on January 14, 1922, died on Thursday.