13 Facts About Salamo Arouch

Salamo Arouch was a Greek-Israeli boxer and Holocaust survivor.

Salamo Arouch's story was the subject of the 1989 film Triumph of the Spirit, in which he was portrayed by the American actor Willem Dafoe.

Salamo Arouch was born in 1923 in Thessaloniki, Greece, one of two sons in a family that included three daughters.

Salamo Arouch's father was a stevedore who nurtured his son's interest in boxing, teaching him when he was a child.

Salamo Arouch worked briefly with his father as a stevedore.

Salamo Arouch said that when he was 14, he fought and won his first amateur boxing match in 1937 in Maccabi Thessaloniki, a Jewish youth center and gymnasium.

Salamo Arouch won the Greek Middleweight Boxing Championship, and in 1939, won the All-Balkans Middleweight Championship, an achievement he was best known for.

Salamo Arouch became a member of Greek Army's boxing team, winning three fights by knockout.

Salamo Arouch claimed he weighed about 135 pounds and often fought much larger men.

Salamo Arouch was a consultant on the movie, Triumph of the Spirit, the 1989 dramatic re-enactment of his early life.

Salamo Arouch accompanied filmmakers several times on an emotional return to the concentration camp where large portions of the film were actually produced.

Salamo Arouch lived in Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, and Rishon LeZion and died on April 26,2009.

Salamo Arouch had been weakened by a stroke he suffered around 1994 and had been in declining health for six months prior to his death.