Auschwitz survivor, 112, is world's oldest man

The former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz I. Photo / Getty Images

An Israeli Holocaust survivor is the world's oldest living man at 112, Guinness World Records confirmed yesterday.

Yisrael Kristal was born in what is now Poland on September 15, 1903, three months before the Wright brothers' first flight.

He lived there through the First World War until the Nazi occupation in the Second World War, and was eventually sent to Auschwitz.

Reacting to his world record, Mr Kristal, who moved to Israel after the war, said in a statement: 'I don't know the secret for long life. I believe that everything is determined from above and we shall never know the reasons why. There have been smarter, stronger and better looking men than me who are no longer alive.'

Marco Frigatti, head of records for Guinness, said: 'Mr Kristal's achievement is remarkable - he can teach us all an important lesson about the value of life and how to stretch the limits of human longevity.'

Mr Kristal was working in his family's confectionery factory when he was sent to the concentration camp, where his wife died. His daughter Shula Kuperstoch has said he weighed just 82lbs (37kg) at the end of the war.

The oldest living woman is US citizen Susannah Mushatt Jones, 116, who was born on July 6, 1899.

- Daily Mail