Auschwitz and Sarajevo siege survivor Greta Weinfeld Ferusic dies aged 97

A survivor of both the Auschwitz death camp and the Sarajevo siege in the 1990s has died, representatives of Bosnia’s Jewish community confirm.

Greta Weinfeld Ferusic died yesterday aged 97, members of Sarajevo’s Jewish community tell AFP.

Greta Ferušić Weinfeld❤️- was 14 years old when she, her parents, two aunts, and an uncle were sent to #Auschwitz75. She was the only member of her family to survive. She lives in #Sarajevo #HolocaustRemembranceDay pic.twitter.com/njSif5pdwa

— Dunja Mijatovic (@Dunja_Mijatovic) January 27, 2020

Born in northern Serbia in 1924, Ferusic was deported to Auschwitz in 1944 along with several family members who were later murdered at the camp in Poland. She was the lone survivor from her family.

Following the end of World War II, she returned to Serbia, studied architecture in Belgrade and later moved to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. She worked as a professor at the University of Sarajevo’s architecture faculty, rising through the academic ranks to become the school’s dean.

But amid the violent break-up of Yugoslavia, Ferusic was again caught in the crossfire of war.

During Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, Ferusic refused to be evacuated as Serb forces surrounded Sarajevo in what became a years-long siege where an estimated 11,000 people, including 1,600 children, were killed.