Alex Dancyg, 75: Renowned Holocaust educator was ‘wise and witty’

Alex (Olesh) Dancyg, 75, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and brought to Gaza. In July 2024, the IDF confirmed that Alex had been killed in the Strip.

In August 2024, his body was recovered from a tunnel in Khan Younis along with the bodies of five others — Yagev Buchshtav, Nadav Popplewell, Avraham Munder, Chaim Peri and Yoram Metzger. An IDF investigation determined that the six were shot dead by their captors in mid-February 2024.

Alex was buried in Kibbutz Nir Oz on August 25, 2024. He is survived by his four children, Yuval, Matti, Ben and Lee, and many grandchildren.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1948, to Holocaust survivors Nina and Marcin, Alex moved to Israel with his parents and older sister, Edith, in 1957. He was a member of the left-wing Labor Zionist youth group Hashomer Hatzair, served in the IDF in the Paratroopers Brigade and eventually settled in Nir Oz, where he raised four children with his then-wife, Rachel and was involved in the kibbutz’s agriculture.

Alex got a degree in history from Ben Gurion University and worked as a history teacher until a trip back to Poland in 1986 — for the first time since he had left in 1957 — kindled a keen interest in Holocaust history and education. In 1990 he began working with the Yad Vashem Museum at the Education Ministry to train guides for youth trips to Poland and Polish educators, clergy and police officers, and became a world-renowned Holocaust historian and expert in the field, including writing several books.

In a video of a talk he gave not long before his death, Alex described himself: “I am born in Poland, a Polish kid, the son of survivors of the Holocaust in Warsaw, and other places, son of a historical family of great rabbis from Vilna, and I am culturally poor… a Jew with deep roots and an Israeli patriot. Is it possible? Yes. I want the kids to understand that life is complicated.”

Inbal Kvity Ben-Dov, an executive at Yad Vashem, wrote in an online tribute about their shared “funny, moving, irritating, and educational moments — memories of the fiery redhead you were, even when your hair turned white. We experienced ups and downs in our joint work, and you were always wise and witty, charismatic and articulate, knowledgeable, yet also grumpy and irritable, and perpetually hungry. Not just for a good meal, drink or some salted nuts, you were hungry for a new survivor’s testimony, a captivating book to discuss for hours, for new experiences, and for challenging philosophical ideas.”

After his death was announced, his son Yuval wrote on Instagram that “this isn’t how it was supposed to end.”

“You were abducted alive and breathing from your bed on that cursed morning, and you should have returned home alive and in one piece. I’m sorry we didn’t succeed in this task,” wrote Yuval. “In the last few months, I was exposed more and more to the number of people you inspired and to what an amazing legacy you left behind. I promise to carry this legacy with me to every place and to tell your story.”

Following the retrieval of Alex’s body, his son, Matty told the Kan public broadcaster that his father was “one of the founders” of the now widely accepted trips for Israeli youth to Poland in high school.

“He dedicated much of his life to this, he worked for many years with Yad Vashem, he established a lot of dialogue with groups of Polish Jews, tried to explain the point of view of Polish citizens in a more accurate and historical and less stereotypical way,” said Matty. At the same time, Alex worked in agriculture in the kibbutz, where he lived for more than 50 years, he said.

“He was a very smart guy, very warm, loved his family, he was the person I had the most fun speaking with, he had so much knowledge, and he was always very interesting,” he added. “I miss him so much… it’s important to me that the legacy he worked to instill, of Holocaust education and nuanced history will continue.”

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