By: Tricia Desroches

The happiest man alive, Eddie Jaku, died at 101 years old. He is a Holocaust survivor. Even though he went through something dreadful, he chooses to be happy and spread happiness. After he survived the Holocaust, he was sad until his son was born.

His name at birth was Abraham Jakubowicz and he was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1920. His family considered himself German first and Jewish second. He had to do high school in another city because when he was a teenager, they kicked him out of school for being Jewish. 

In the late 1980s, he and his family were in several camps. Since he studied engineering, he was a slave laborer. Out of all his family, he was the only one that survived. He was sent on a death march, but he escaped. He hid in a forest for months, he lived off of slugs and snails. He was later rescued by the U.S. Army. 

He met his wife Flore in Belgium and they were married for 75 years. He said in a TED Talk that he was ¨not a happy man¨ right after the war ended, but as soon as his son was born he changed completely. 

He is the ¨happiest man on Earth¨. He said that he could’ve died miserably, but he survived. So he thinks he should live his life the best way possible and that is happy. He does his best to spread happiness and encourages everyone else to do the same.