Born 1918- 2000 Estrongo Nachama, Vigorous to the last, eyes always glimmering, his voice scarcely affected by age, Mr. Nachama exuded the passion for life of a man who had seen the worst horrors and come through. He was an Auschwitz survivor, spared because his voice pleased the SS guards, who particularly enjoyed his rendering of ''O Sole Mio.'' His family, all sent to Auschwitz after the Nazis took control of northern Greece, where Mr. Nachama was born, was less fortunate. His parents, a sister and many relatives were all killed by the Nazis at the camp. While forever marked by this loss, Mr. Nachama was an inveterate optimist of seemingly boundless energy. On his 80th birthday, he declared, ''I will sing for as long as God allows me'' -- and he did, coaching bar mitzvah students until the day before his death. ''He was one of the absolutely critical people in terms of the rebuilding of the Jewish community in Berlin,'' said Tom Freudenheim, the deputy director of the cit! y's Jewish museum. ''Before the wall fell, he would cross to the East with a special pass to conduct services there. In his day, his voice was famous well beyond this city.'' In 1947, when Mr. Nachama became cantor, the Jews of Berlin had almost all departed or died. Today, with the Jewish population swollen by an influx of Jews from Russia and other Central and Eastern European countries, about 12000 people are registered members of the Jewish community and several thousand more are known to live here
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