Rome mourns last Roman Jew to survive the horrors of Auschwitz.

Donato Di Veroli, the last Roman Jew to survive the Holocaust, has died in the Italian capital aged 98, the city's Jewish community announced on Monday.

Born in Rome in 1924, Di Veroli was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in March 1944, at the age of 20.

After the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 he returned to Rome, but never spoke publicly about his experience in the camp or the horror that he witnessed.

La morte di Donato Di Veroli, l'ultimo degli ebrei romani sopravvissuti alla Shoah è un grande lutto per la nostra Comunità. La scomparsa della memoria diretta è un pungolo che ci esorta a portare avanti per le giovani generazioni pic.twitter.com/6nz0qonuUM

— Comunità Ebraica di Roma (@romaebraica) July 4, 2022

"After the liberation he never spoke of the horror of Auschwitz but with great courage he gave birth to a family with a strong Jewish identity" - said Ruth Dureghello, president of Rome's Jewish community - "We send them our embrace, may his memory be a blessing."

• Italy remembers the horrors of the Holocaust

There were also condolences for Di Veroli's family and the capital's Jewish community from Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

"Today Rome mourns the death of Donato Di Veroli, the last of the Roman Jews who survived the Shoah" - Gualtieri wrote on Twitter - "We will not forget the tragedy he experienced and we are committed to making his story known to future generations."

Photo Ruth Dureghello