JUNE 22 • 2023 | 53

B

en Helfgott, one of two known 
Holocaust survivors to go on to 
compete in the Olympics, died 
Friday, June 15, 2023, at 93.
Helfgott survived the Holocaust as a 
teenager, and he went on to become a 
champion weightlifter and a champion of 
Holocaust education. He was knighted in 
2018.
“Sir Ben Helfgott was one of the most 
inspirational people I have known,” 
said Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim 
Mirvis, according to London’s Jewish 
News. “He was a charismatic and pas-
sionate leader, who promoted the values 
of compassion, understanding, love and 
peaceful coexistence. His own horrific 
experiences inspired him to work tireless-
ly for a more peaceful and unified world 
and he inspired us to do likewise.”
Helfgott was born in Piotrkow, Poland, 
in 1929. He once said his parents were 
troubled about their future as Jews in 
Poland, and in 1935 his family had 
secured paperwork to leave for then-Pal-
estine. But his grandmother did not want 
to leave, so they stayed.
The Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, when 
Helfgott was 10. His family was forced 
into a ghetto, the Nazis’ first in Europe. 
Helfgott’s father led efforts to smuggle food 
into the ghetto, while Helfgott himself took 
advantage of his blond hair by spending 
time outside the ghetto — without his Star 
of David armband.
Helfgott would spend three years in the 
ghetto before he and his father were sent 
to the Buchenwald concentration camp. 
Other members of his family were deport-
ed to Ravensbrück.
Helfgott would ultimately be separat-
ed from his father, who he later learned 
was killed attempting to escape a death 
march. Helfgott was sent to the con-
centration camp in Schlieben and later 
Theresienstadt, which was liberated three 

weeks later. At 15, Helfgott was alive and 
an orphan.
That’s when he jumped at an opportu-
nity to go to England, where he would be 
reunited with his sister. That’s also where 
Helfgott would discover weightlifting.
The 5-foot-5 Helfgott would go on to 
become Britain’s lightweight champion in 
1955, 1956 and 1958. He represented the 
United Kingdom in the 1956 and 1960 
Olympics, and he won gold medals at the 
Maccabiah Games in 1950, 1953 and 1957. 
He was inducted into the International 
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
Despite his athletic achievements, 
Helfgott’s greatest passion was his work 
supporting fellow survivors. He served as 
chairman of ’45 Aid Society, an organiza-
tion created by and for the young survivors 
— often called “the boys” — who in 1945 
arrived in England, 732 children in all.
“Ben was one of the greatest ambas-
sadors for the Boys and, indeed, for all 
Holocaust survivors,” read a statement 
from the organization. 

One of Only Two Holocaust 
Survivors to Compete in the 
Olympics, Dies at 93

JACOB GURVIS JTA.ORG

many other loving family mem-
bers and friends. 
Mrs. Topper was the beloved 
wife of the late Alvin Topper; sister 
of the late Seymour Gross. 
Interment was held at 
Machpelah Cemetery in Ferndale. 
Contributions can be made to 
Jewish Senior Life or to the Jewish 
Hospice and Chaplaincy Network. 
Arrangements by Dorfman 
Chapel.

DR. STEVEN 
MICHAEL WOLF, 81, 
of Birmingham, died 
June 9, 2023. 
Dr. Wolf spent more 
than 45 years as an oral 
maxillofacial surgeon, acting as chief 
of oral maxillofacial surgery and 
director of the residency program 
at the Detroit Medical Center. Dr. 
Wolf was a Fellow of the American 
College of Surgeons.
Dr. Wolf is survived by his wife 
of 44 years, Ilene Wolf; sons and 
daughter-in-law, Matthew and 
Kristen Wolf, and Scott Wolf; 
daughter and son-in-law, Megan 
and Ned Specktor; grandchildren, 
Bellamy and Morgan Wolf, and 
Georgia and Beckham Specktor; sis-
ter, Cynthia Lupiloff; brother-in-law, 
Mark Bloom. He is also survived 
by Debra Bloom, Gregory Wolf, 
Melissa Fenton, other loving rela-
tives and friends. 
Dr. Wolf was the brother-in-law of 
the late Steven Lupiloff and the late 
Leslie Bloom. 
Interment was at Clover Hill 
Park Cemetery. Contributions 
may be made to Jewish Federation 
of Metropolitan Detroit, 6735 
Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, 
MI 48301, jewishdetroit.org/send-
a-tribute; or Beaumont Health 
Foundation, Rose Cancer Center 
or the Max and Debra Ernst Heart 
Center, 3601 W
. 13 Mile Road, 
Royal Oak, MI 48073, foundation.
beaumont.org. Arrangements by Ira 
Kaufman Chapel. 

Ben Helfgott poses with his medal after being 
knighted at Buckingham Palace, Nov. 21, 2018. 

DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/JTA

