Folk Figure, Holocaust Survivor. Shimson Kleuger, also Szymon Klieger or Szymon Klüger, was the last Jew to live in the town of Oświęcim (German: Auschwitz) in Poland. He became known as "The Last Jew in Auschwitz." Kleuger came from an Hasidic Jewish family who lived in Oświęcim. Not much is known about his life. The family had a small house was behind Oświęcim Synagogue. The house originally belonged to Szymon's grandfather, Bernard Teichman and his daughter, Frymet. They bought it in 1928. Bernard Teichman was in the dry-goods trade in Oświęcim. He also owned a second hand goods shop in Bytom. Szymon's father, Symcha, was a melamed, or religious teacher. During World War II, Shimson was interned in a concentration camp. Of the nine Kleuger siblings, only three survived the Holocaust. After his camp was liberated, Shimson Kleuger went to Sweden. Kleuger returned to Oświęcim in 1961, to find all the other Jews had left for America or Israel. Klueger took up residence in his family home and became a recluse, never venturing out. The townspeople left him food in a bowl outside the house. Klueger died in May 2000. There were no Jews remaining in Oświęcim to prepare him for burial in the correct manner. Jewish law prescribes a ritual washing prior to burial. The closest rabbi, Rabbi Sacha Pecaric of Krakow, was summoned. He went to the mortuary in Auschwitz to perform the taharah ceremony. A minyan, a quorum of 10 males over the age of 13, was also required. A busload of American Jewish students agreed to attend the funeral to make up this number. Kleuger was the last person buried in the old Oświęcim Jewish cemetery which had been revived after the war. After Shimson Kleuger died his siblings, Moshe and Bronia, donated the house to the Auschwitz Jewish Center which also runs the Oświęcim Synagogue and the adjacent Jewish museum.