Joseph Harmatz dead: Leader of Jewish WWII 'avengers' dies aged 91

'We didn't understand why it shouldn't be paid back'

In this photo made on Monday, May 23, 2016, Joseph Harmatz sits during an interview with the Associated Press at his apartment in Tel Aviv, Israel (AP)

The man responsible for one of the most ambitious attempts to get revenge on the Nazis in the wake of the Second World War, Joseph Harmatz, has died at the age of 91.

The Holocaust survivor remained unapologetic to the end for a plot to poison 2,200 German prisoners of war in 1946, which sickened many but killed none.

Mr Harmatz lost most of his family in the Holocaust but his son, Ronel Harmatz, confirmed the death on Monday.

The mass poisoning of former SS officers at an American prisoner-of-war camp by a band known as the Jewish "Avengers" would become a rallying cry for the fledgling state of Israel.

Mr Harmatz was one of the few remaining of the group which carried it out, who codenamed the operation Nakam, Hebrew for vengeance.

Speaking to the Associated Press not long before his death, Mr Harmatz recalled how the band of 50-or-so resistance fighters could not let go of he crimes committed in the war.

"We didn't understand why it shouldn't be paid back," he said.

The group set out with a simple mission - to "kill Germans," Harmatz said flatly. How many? "As many as possible," he quickly replied.

After the war, Mr Harmatz worked at the Jewish Agency and was director general of World ORT, a Jewish educational organisation.