Today B7452 was laid to rest. That is all he was to the Nazi's.

I knew him as Joe Hasson.

Today we lost the last male survivor of the Holocaust that came from the Island of Rhodes.

Rhodes did not have a large Jewish population on July 23 1944 the Nazi's took the 1,673 Jews from Rhodes to Auschwitz.

Of these Jews only 150 survived.

I was proud to shake his hand every Shabbat as I entered Ezra Bessaroth a Rhodesli synagogue located in Seattle. Joe was a hero to me for what he survived and how he thrived building a wonderful Jewish family.

This picture is of 10 males from Rhodes that survived. Joe is on the far right.