Claims Conference Hosts Guests for Annual Board Meeting
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This week, the Claims Conference gathered for its Annual Board meeting in New York City. More than 50 members of the board came together from 14 countries. During this year’s board meeting, they discussed recent negotiations, new programs, and initiatives and the selection of new board members for the year ahead.
The board members were also joined by a guest, Yuval Dancyg. Yuval shared his family’s Holocaust story, but it was not just this story that made the experience impactful. Yuval is the son of Alex Dancyg, a 75-year-old educator of the Holocaust and Polish-Jewish history who was taken on October 7th from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with 251 others.
Yuval explained, “I think being the son of Holocaust survivors shaped his character and life. Because he wanted to educate people about the lessons to be learned from the Holocaust. That is why he became a well-known historian and educator of the Holocaust.”
The story of Yuval’s grandparents was woven with narrow escapes and survival, the result being nothing short of a miracle. They escaped from Warsaw at the start of World War II and journeyed East. After liberation, the reunited family settled back in Warsaw where Alex Dancyg was born. In 1957, the family emigrated to Israel. Alex made his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and started his own family. He spent the last 30 years working for Yad Vashem and dedicating his life to educating the world on the Holocaust and Jewish-Polish history.
The family last heard about Alex in November when 100 hostages were released in a temporary truce deal. Some of the released hostages had been with Alex and recalled him giving history lessons. Since then, there has been no word. Alex’s son, Yuval, has taken up his father’s role as an educator – about Alex’s captivity by Hamas and taking part in the March of the Living in Poland. His efforts emphasize the importance of passing on the memory of the Holocaust, an issue to which his father dedicated his life.
He closed with, “We are now closer to October 7, 2024, than October 7, 2023. The most important thing now are actions…I just want my father back along with the other 119. I want the chance to show him how many people care for him.”
Other guests included Krzysztof Szczerski, Polish Ambassador to the UN and Ofir Akunis, Consul General of Israel in NY.
Speaking to the Board and Yuval, Ambassador Szczerski said, “It is our moral, but it is also our legal obligation to stand behind all the victim’s families and to stand behind those who make all the efforts to release the hostages and to take them back home.” He also explained his own connection, “I am from the families of the Righteous Among the Nation, we have our place in Yad Vashem. For me, the Jewish people’s suffering is a personal offense.”
Addressing Yuval directly, Consul General Ofir Akunis said, “I visited in Poland in 1990 because of your father and I met Polish youth, and I marched from Birkenau to Auschwitz.” He concluded with an important lesson: “We must learn from the history.”
The Claims Conference thanks Yuval for speaking about his father’s life, work and tribulations. We continue to pray for the safe return of the hostages still being held. This annual meeting demonstrates our collective determination to survivors and our own dynamic ability to confront the ever-changing needs of their care and the current climate.
Since the writing of this article, the IDF has confirmed the death of Alex Dancyg at some point during his captivity by Hamas.
