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Obituary: Michal Hornstein was one of city's most renowned philanthropists

Published: 28 April 2016

As a young man in Poland, Michal Hornstein was arrested by the Nazis and set to be deported to Auschwitz, the notorious death camp where thousands were executed during the Holocaust.

But Hornstein evaded his captors by jumping from a train and hiding in the forests of Czechoslovakia. Of the 70 people who tried to escape the Nazis on that day in 1943, only seven survived.

Were it not for this twist of fate, it’s unlikely Hornstein would have survived the war, immigrated to Canada and become one of the city’s most renowned philanthropists.

The 95-year-old Hornstein died in his Montreal home Monday. He was a member of the Order of Canada, a knight in the National Order of Quebec and sat on the board of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for 46 years.

Michal Hornstein was a recipient of 2014 DMAA Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Read full article: Montreal Gazette, 27 April, 2016 

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