Werner Reich was a 16-year-old imprisoned at Auschwitz, when he learned a card trick from Herbert Levin, a fellow inmate who sought to distract the young man from the horrors of the camp. That act of kindness and the instructions for the magic trick helped young Werner survive.

He survived Auschwitz, a death march, and a final few months of imprisonment at Mauthausen before U.S. Army troops liberated the camp on May 5, 1945. He never lost his love of magic, which had distracted him from where he was and what he saw. He would perform close-up tricks with cards and coins for the rest of his life. Mr. Reich died July 8 at his home in Smithtown, NY. He was 94.

“Mr. Reich never forgot Mr. Levin nor the gift of a simple card trick that provided a frightened boy with a momentary escape and a touch of humanity,” The New York Times said.

“It isn’t the value or the size of a gift that truly matters,” Mr. Reich said in a TED talk. “It’s how you hold it in your heart.”