With well over 100 of his nearest and dearest friends and family members, Kudisch celebrated his birthday Thursday at the Palm Beach Home for Adults in Sheepshead Bay.

Wearing a bright red lapel pen that flashed, "Kiss me, I'm 100," Kudisch took about five minutes to make his way to the front of the home's recreation room to start the party.

He stopped frequently to dispense kisses. Granddaughter Jesica Kudisch got a buss on the lips. Women residents of the home got kisses on the cheek. Favorite staff members got kisses on their hands.

Born in Poland, Kudisch moved to Austria as a child. Before World War II, he owned a textile mill in Vienna. But to escape the Nazis, he and his first wife and son fled to Berlin. They were caught and sent to Auschwitz.

"His first wife and son were gassed right after they got there," said granddaughter Jesica, a public school teacher. "He talked about Auschwitz a lot when I was young. But he never allowed me to videotape anything."

He worked in the garment district as a knitting mechanic for a manufacturer of ladies sweaters until he retired early in the '70s, Jesica said. His wife Edith died in 1998.

Three years ago, the family decided the walk up three flights of stairs to his Kings Highway apartment was getting to be a bit much for Kudisch.

"But he told us he was too young to be in a nursing home," Jesica said. "The only reason he came to Palm Bay was that we told him it was assisted living and they would have to help him only with meals."

His birthday celebration included dancing, singing, a chocolate mocha birthday sheet cake, a Borough Hall proclamation and a presentation by state Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Mill Basin).

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