Richard Rozen dies

Richard Rozen, who has died in Melbourne, survived the Holocaust as a hidden child in Poland, built a quiet, successful life in Australia as a chess and bridge champion, and then, decades later, discovered that one of the men he had faced across a chessboard was among the most senior Nazi war criminals ever to find refuge in this country.

Richard was born Richard Rozencwajg in Radom, Poland, in 1935, the son of Pinkus Rozencwajg, a doctor, and his wife Rose.

He was four when Germany invaded Poland.

By six, he was hiding with his parents in a cupboard, where he stayed for thirteen months.

When the family’s money ran out, they were forced into the Lublin ghetto and put on a path to Treblinka.