Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Yisrael Kristal has lived through two world wars 
 
 A survivor of the Auschwitz death camp is now the world's oldest man, the Guinness World Records organisation says. 
 
 Yisrael Kristal was born near Zarnow in Poland in 1903 and lived through two world wars before moving to the Israeli city of Haifa. 
 
 He was 112 years and 178 days old on 11 March, Guinness World Records says. 
 
 The previous oldest-recorded man, Yasutaro Koide of Japan, died in January aged 112 years and 312 days. 
 
 As he received his Guinness World Records certificate, Mr Kristal said he did not know the "secret for long life" and that he believed everything was "determined from above". 
 
 "There have been smarter, stronger and better looking men then me who are no longer alive," he added. 
 
 "All that is left for us to do is to keep on working as hard as we can and rebuild what is lost." 
 
 The son of a religious scholar, Mr Kristal was separated from his parents during World War One. He later moved to Lodz to work in the family confectionery business. 
 
 After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, Mr Kristal and his family were moved into the Lodz ghetto. 
 
 His two children died there and Mr Kristal and his wife Chaja Feige Frucht were sent to Auschwitz in 1944 after the ghetto was liquidated, the Jerusalem Post reports. 
 
 Mr Kristal's wife was murdered in Auschwitz but he survived, performing slave labour in that and other camps. When he was found by the Allies in May 1945 he weighed just 37 kg (5 stones 11 lbs). 
 
 The sole survivor from his family, Mr Kristal emigrated to Israel in 1950 with his second wife and their son, where he continued to run his confectionery business until his retirement. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The previous oldest man Yasutaro Koide died in January 
 
 His daughter, Shula Kuperstoch, said the Holocaust had not affected her father's beliefs. 
 
 "He is optimistic, wise, and he values what he has," she told the Jerusalem Post. 
 
 The oldest person alive today is believed to be an American woman, Susannah Mushatt Jones, who is 115 years and 249 days. 
 
 The oldest person ever to have lived is thought to be Jeanne Calment from France, who died aged 122 years and 164 days. 
 
 Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp 
 
 Image caption Time is running out to prosecute the few Auschwitz guards still alive 
 
 Construction began in 1940 on site that grew to 40 sq km (15 sq miles) 
 
 About one million Jews were killed at the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland 
 
 Other victims included Roma (Gypsies), disabled people, homosexuals, dissidents, non-Jewish Poles and Soviet prisoners 
 
 How the Holocaust unfolded, year by year 
 
 Why did ordinary people commit atrocities in the Holocaust? ||||| Guinness World Records can today confirm that Mr Israel Kristal of Haifa, Israel, is now the world’s Oldest living man. 
 
 Born in Poland, near the town of Zarnow on 15 September, 1903 to parents Moszek-Dawid and Brucha Krystztal, Mr Kristal has lived through both World Wars and survived Nazi war camp Auschwitz in the 1940s before relocating to Israel. 
 
 Kristal claims the title at the age of 112 years and 178 days as of 11 March 2016, and was awarded his certificate at his home in Haifa, by Guinness World Records’ Head of Records Marco Frigatti. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Upon being confirmed as the world’s Oldest living man and receiving his Guinness World Records certificate, Mr Kristal said: “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 then me who are no longer alive. All that is left for us to do is to keep on working as hard as we can and rebuild what is lost.” 
 
 
 
 Guinness World Records was assisted in the research and verification of Israel's world record by the 
 
 Guinness World Records was assisted in the research and verification of Israel's world record by the Gerontology Research Group and Jewish Records Indexing - Poland 
 
 Marco Frigatti, Head of Records for GWR said of Mr Kristal’s achievement “This record category continues to be one of particular human interest and we have been able to verify that as the new Oldest living man. 
 
 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.” 
 
 Israel Kristal with head of Guinness World Records records team Marco Frigatti, Israel's son Heim Kristal, daughter Shula Kuperstoch and great grandchildren 
 
 Aged three Israel Kristal started to learn in a local Heder school and began to speak Hebrew. 
 
 At four he learnt Bible and at six, Mishna. At eleven, separated from his parents, he survived the First World War. 
 
 In 1920 he moved to Łódź in Poland to work in the family confectionary business. 
 
 Following the Nazi invasion of Poland and the occupation of Łódź, Kristal was moved into the Łódź ghetto with his family in 1939. 
 
 Four years later he was sent to Auschwitz. Kristal lost his wife, Chaja Feige Frucht and their two children in the Holocaust. 
 
 Kristal himself survived, performing backbreaking slave labour in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. He was rescued from the brink of death by the Allies in May 1945 weighing only 37 kilos. 
 
 A sole survivor of a large family, he emigrated in 1950 to the city of Haifa in Israel with his second wife and their son. 
 
 Since that time, Kristal continued to grow both his family and his successful confectionary business until his retirement. He now lives in Haifa, surrounded by his loving family. 
 
 Born to a Jewish Orthodox family, Israel Kristal never had a bar mitzvah, the traditional Jewish ceremony when a boy turns 13, due to the hardships of WWI. 
 
 However, he has continuously and rigorously been performing the commandment of phylacteries (tefilin) every morning for the last century, with the exception of the Holocaust and both world wars. 
 
 The previous oldest man, Yasutaro Koide of Japan, died in January 2016 at the age of 112 years, 312 days. 
 
 The oldest living person is Susannah Mushatt Jones (USA, b. 6 July 1899), who is 115 years and 249 days, also making her the Oldest living woman. 
 
 The Oldest person ever to have lived is also female, Jeanne Calment (France) who lived to 122 years and 164 days.
– Yisrael Kristal came very close to dying in the Holocaust along with millions of others—including his wife and their two children. Instead, the 112-year-old survived Auschwitz and has now been confirmed as the world's oldest man, having outlived Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime by more than 70 years, the BBC reports. Kristal, who remarried, had two children, and moved to Haifa, Israel after the war, was a slave laborer at Auschwitz and weighed just 77 pounds when the extermination camp was liberated in May, 1945. He was born in Poland in 1903 and ran successful confectionery businesses before and after the war. "I don’t know the secret for long life," he told the Guinness Book of Records after receiving his certificate. "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. All that is left for us to do is to keep on working as hard as we can and rebuild what is lost."