How does one define a Holocaust survivor?

There are at least two definitions in use:

1. Any Jew who was taken to concentration camp, extermination camp or equivalent (such as a transit camp) and was still alive on 8 May 1945, plus people who had successfully avoided being sent to a camp by hiding or using false papers.
2. As 1, plus any other Jews in who managed to get away from the Nazis.

The trouble with the second definition is that it includes a number of people who were generally not in immediate physical danger, for example, Jews who emigrated or fled from Germany to the US, Britain and Australia in the early years of Nazi rule.

The Word survivor implies a person who has actually lived through something dangerous or deadly, through some ordeal. If the term is expanded beyond that, it becomes meaningless.

Well known Holocaust survivors include Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, Jean Amery.

See the link below for a fuller list.