Alexander Dancyg, a retired farmer and renowned Holocaust historian and activist for Jewish-Polish relations who lived and worked on Kibbutz Nir Oz for decades, was confirmed dead on Monday nearly 10 months after his abduction by Hamas on Oct. 7. Dancyg was remembered this week for his deep commitment to education and connection to Jewish history, which he reportedly continued to give lectures on while in captivity. 

A father of three and grandfather of nine, Dancyg was killed several months ago alongside another hostage, 35-year-old Yagev Buchshtab, the Israel Defense Forces announced this week. Both of their bodies are still being held by Hamas. Dancyg would have turned 76 last Sunday. 

In a statement, Yad Vashem said it was mourning for Dancyg, who worked with the organization for more than 30 years. The statement credited Dancyg with creating and leading training courses for guides of Israeli youth trips to Poland and for his Holocaust education efforts in Poland for educators and clergy, Jewish and non-Jewish. 

“His vast library at his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz reflected his deep connection between his cherished Israeli and Jewish identity and his Polish birthplace,” Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, added in the statement. “Alex successfully integrated these perspectives into his teaching of the events of World War II in general, and of the Holocaust in particular. The news of his tragic death strengthens our commitment to ensure that Alex’s legacy and the stories he passionately preserved are never forgotten.” 

Dancyg was, at least in November, still teaching his fellow captives, Kveller reported in January. Nili Margalit, a nurse who was also held captive in Gaza and eventually released, said Dancyg would give talks about history. 

Dancyg was born Warsaw in 1948 to Holocaust survivor parents, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1957. In the web documentary “Voices for Dialogue,” Dancing said that when he first arrived in Israel as a child, “Certainly I did not specifically identify as a Jew; I was a Pole. I, Olés Dancyg, a Warsaw native, was 100% Polish. I only started consciously thinking o the word ‘Jew’ once in Israel, where I went to school and began to read more.”

He joined the Labor Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair, served in the IDF during several wars and farmed the land alongside other socialist Zionists for decades, but he never abandoned his sense of dual Polish and Israeli identities. Dancyg’s friend and former student Naama Egozi, coordinator in the International Institute for Holocaust Education at Yad Vashem, told The Jerusalem Post that “one of [Dancyg’s] most unique contributions” was giving his students an appetite for the Polish narrative and for understanding their experience of the Holocaust. An advocate for Polish-Jewish dialogue, he also facilitated dialogue opportunities between Polish and Israeli youth.

In the course of his life Dancyg received multiple accolades from the country of his birth, including the Silver Cross of Merit from then-Polish President Lech Kaczyski and the National Education Commission, the highest honor bestowed by the Polish Ministry of Education. He was most recently honored with the Jan Karski Eagle Award in March 2024, presented to people for “defending human rights and speaking out against aggression and on behalf of the integrity of ethnic and religious groups and sovereign nations,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

Dancyg’s son, Yuval Dancyg, led a persistent campaign to advocate for his father’s release, which included a meeting with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, as well as a meeting last month with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. 

Hochul paid tribute to Dancyg on X, writing on Monday, “Our hearts are with his son, Yuval, his loved ones, & the loved ones of all those held captive by Hamas.”