Last week, Beth Tfiloh freshman and seniors had the pleasure of hearing from Isaak, Sarah and Esther Danon, the father and aunts of Josh D. ‘24. The three siblings lived in Yugoslavia and survived the Holocaust. Before the Holocaust, there were 80,000 Jews in Yugoslavia, and only about 10,000 survived.
The Danons grew up together in Split, Croatia (previously Yugoslavia) but during the war were separated. They were constantly trying to evade the Nazis and in doing so, helped the Partisans, the Jewish resistance fighters, to sabotage and attack Nazi forces. Towards the end of the war, they were reunited and moved to America where they have lived for the better part of 70 years.
After the meeting, I spoke with Jewish History department chair Dr. Rubin about the family. He brought up a very important point, sharing how “rare it is to find three siblings who all survived the Holocaust, especially from Yugoslavia, and are all still alive well into their 80s and 90s.”
A book was written about Sarah, Sarah’s Survival, which describes her efforts during the war to protect her family, which is now available in the BT library.
