Holocaust survivors live seven years longer on average than other Jewish people in Israel who did not experience the horrors of the Nazi genocide - thanks to their DNA.
In a new study, scientists say survivors may have been genetically more resilient to the severe hardships they endured at the hands of the Germans.
This 'cruel Darwinistic selection' - combined with a heightened awareness of their own well-being - has increased their life expectancy beyond that of Israeli Jews who were not caught up in the 20th-century extermination of their people, they claim.
The abominable treatment survivors experienced may have also improved their mental and physical toughness, experts say, and made them more health conscious.
The study of around 83,000 Jewish men and women living in Israel found mortality rates are around 16 per cent lower for those who were not imprisoned.
A combination of these factors has culminated in a life expectancy of 84.8 years of age for survivors.
This is considerably higher than the average lifespan of Israeli Jews who did not live through the holocaust - which is 77.7 years on average.
But the remarkable endurance of these people is made more astonishing by the fact they are also more likely to suffer with hypertension (16 per cent), kidney disease (11 per cent) and dementia (seven per cent).
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Holocaust survivors live seven years longer on average than other Jewish people in Israel who did not experience the horrors of the Nazi genocide. Pictured is Belzec death camp, one of three used for gas chamber slaughter (file photo)
The study compared more than 38,000 Holocaust survivors born in Europe and nearly 35,000 Israelis all born between 1911 and 1945.
Both groups were insured by Maccabi Healthcare Services in Israel, providing the team with extensive health data, gathered between 1998 and 2017.
'Obviously, survivors have higher resilience, both physical and probably also mental, than those who did not manage to survive,' corresponding author Dr Gideon Koren, of Maccabi Healthcare Services, Tel Aviv told MailOnline.
'This research can explain the favourable life expectancy in Israel: As a large proportion of Israelis are survivors and their children, it is a cruel Darwinistic selection that caused them to live longer.'
He added: 'The findings suggest although Holocaust survivors may experience more illnesses, the mortality in the group may be lower.
'This may be associated with the improved health literacy and unique resilience characteristics among Holocaust survivors.
'There is a broad understanding that a genocide experience sustained for five years would have serious consequences on the psychologic and physical
