Noah Klieger

Noah Klieger was born in 1926 in Strasbourg

Klieger was born in Strasbourg. He grew up in France, Luxembourg and Belgium. As a teenager he ran short races and swam long distances.

Under the German occupation of Belgium he worked in a Zionist youth underground that smuggled Jews to Switzerland. He was arrested in 1942 and later sent to Auschwitz, where he joined a prisoners' boxing team. He survived death marches to Mittelbau-Dora and Ravensbruck, where he was freed in 1945.

After the war he met his parents, who had also survived Auschwitz, and worked with the illegal immigration effort. In 1947 he sailed on the Exodus, first as a passenger and then as a crew member. He later reached Israel and fought in the War of Independence.

From 1953 he reported from Israel for L'Équipe, and in 1957 he joined Yedioth Ahronoth as an editor, reporter and columnist. He covered the Eichmann and Demjanjuk trials and led groups of Israelis to the death camps. He was president of Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club and chaired the FIBA media council.

He received the FIBA Order of Merit in 2010 and the Legion of Honour in 2012, and entered the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015. He died in 2018.