Holocaust Historian Alex Dancyg Dies in Captivity

The Polish-Israeli hostage was one of the greatest specialists in the history of Jews in Poland and the author of tourist guides translated into several languages.

Alex Dancyg, a Polish-Israeli hostage, has died in the Gaza Strip, the Hostage Forum announced on Monday, July 22. He was one of the leading experts on Jewish history in Poland and an author of tourist guides translated into several languages. The Israeli army said his body was still in the hands of Hamas.

He was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he lived. Born on July 21, 1948 in Poland, he arrived in Israel at the age of 9 with his parents, Holocaust survivors. Passionate about history, the former hostage worked at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. He spent decades there training guides and teaching the history of the Holocaust.

A former hostage held with him said that Alex Dancyg gave history lessons to his unfortunate companions while they were held captive in a tunnel by Hamas. In May, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, his son Youval, visiting Krakow, said: “dreaming of coming back here with my father so he can explain each place to me.”

A promoter of dialogue between Israel and Poland, his death was deplored by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which described him as“a man of peace and friendship who greatly contributed to Jewish-Polish dialogue”in a message on the social network X.

Of the 251 people kidnapped on October 7, 116 are still being held captive in Gaza, 44 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army. In response, the Israeli army launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed 39,006 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.