Alexander Dancyg

Alexander Dancyg, 75, of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was abducted from his home on October 7 and killed in Hamas captivity. His family was informed of his death on July 22, 2024; IDF forces located his body in the Gaza Strip on August 20, and he was returned to Israel. Dancyg was born in Warsaw, Poland on 21 July 1948, to parents who were survivors of the Holocaust. He was born in Warsaw as the second child of Nina (Nycha) and Marcin (Mordechai) Dancyg. In 1957, he and his family immigrated to Israel,[4] where he joined the Labor Zionist youth organisation Hashomer Hatzair, served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including during several wars, and obtained a degree in history. He started a family on Kibbutz Nir-Oz, raising three children. In 1986, Dancyg returned to Poland for the first time in three decades and visited the Auschwitz death camp, which fuelled his interest in Holocaust education and the complicated Polish–Jewish relations[1][2] of the post-Communist period. In 1990, he started working with Yad Vashem, preparing tour guides chosen to accompany Israeli groups on their visits to Poland. His work at Yad Vashem also included lecturing and meeting educators and students from Poland and Israel.[1][8] Dancyg led a program for 120 Israeli and Polish schools to meet together during Israeli school trips to Poland.[9] He was a long-standing associate of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Institute. Since 1990 he ran courses for guides taking care of groups of Israelis visiting Poland. He was also an associate of the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre.