One of the few remaining Holocaust survivors living in Colorado passed away in Denver on Sunday morning.
Jerry Lista survived five concentration camps and a death camp. He moved to Denver after being liberated.
His family says to honor him is to honor his past, which is why they decided to share his story with 9NEWS.
Dylan Sanborn is Lista's grandson. He remembers his grandfathers tenants clearly.
"Always wear your heart on your sleeve," Sanborn said. "Always be a good person. Whatever does happen, happens. But always know to live your life to the fullest."
A family photo of Lista, his parents and two siblings jogged a memory.
"We are pretty sure all four of them were sent to the death camps," Sanborn said.
They believe Lista was around 13 years old and after six years, he and two of his sisters were the only ones in his immediate family to survive.
"He was liberated in 1945," Sanborn said.
Sanborn said he heard the stories, but never read them until his family found papers dating back to the 1940s. The papers were discovered when Sanborn's mother sorted through Lista's boxes and documents two weeks ago.
"Having fainted, I remained on the road and the next day I was picked up by one of the cars driving the sick passengers," Sanborn read. It's a story about when his grandfather was shot in the leg by SS officers before he was liberated.
"I feel connected to his history," Sanborn said. "I will never know what it's like to go through what he did."
They shared a document handed to Lista when he was liberated by American allies. It says he was born in 1927.
"He thought he was born in 1924," David Torres, who is marrying Lista's daughter, said.
His family is guessing Lista, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, was in his early 90s when he passed away Sunday morning.
"Always remember the past whether it's good or bad and using that to to be able to not repeat any mistakes made by other people," Sanborn said in his grandfather's honor.
Lista moved to the United States in 1951 as a part of a program for Holocaust survivors.
His two sisters who also survived the Holocaust have since passed away.
His family says after being shot, Lista has to use a prosthetic leg.
They hope to hand the papers they found over to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. to help preserve them.
