The date was not accidental. The podcast is dedicated to Alex and to the work to which he devoted most of his life: creating encounters between Poles and Jews, Israelis and Poles, and encouraging them to learn not only about one another’s histories, but also from one another.
Alex Dancyg was born in Warsaw in 1948 to parents who had survived the Holocaust. In 1957, the family immigrated to Israel, and Alex eventually made his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz, where, alongside his work as an educator and historian, he was also working the land.
A return visit to Poland in 1986, his first since leaving the country as a child, became an important turning point. In 1990 he began working with Yad Vashem, where for more than three decades he played a central role in educational programs connected with Poland and the Holocaust.
Alex helped create and lead training programs for guides accompanying Israeli youth groups to Poland and worked extensively with Polish educators, clergy and other groups in the Polish Desk, at the European Department. Yet his approach to Poland was never limited to the Holocaust. POLIN Museum, with which he collaborated closely, recalled that as a co-author of the training program for Israeli guides he repeatedly emphasized the importance of teaching about Polish Jews and their contribution to Poland, Israel and European civilization. He followed Polish politics, culture and sports closely and had
a particular love of Polish literature.
This broader perspective was fundamental to the way Alex understood Polish-Jewish dialogue. The Holocaust could not be avoided, simplified or detached from historical responsibility, but neither could Polish-Jewish relations be reduced to the years 1939–1945. Understanding the destruction also required understanding the Jewish world that had existed before it; contemporary dialogue required knowledge of what happened after the war and of the different ways in which Israelis, Jews and Poles remember and interpret their shared history.
For me, this was not an abstract educational philosophy. Alex was my teacher, colleague and close friend, and we worked together in educational encounters between Israelis and Poles. From our work together developed an amazing friendship.
On 7 October 2023, Alex was abducted by Hamas from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and taken to Gaza. Alex was murdered in captivity, and was brought back and buried at home in August 2024.
But the work to which he devoted so much of his life—did not end with him. He left thousands of students worldwide to carry on actively his legacy.
From a Legacy to a Podcast Bridging Voices – Polish-Jewish Dialogue grew out of the conviction that this conversation must continue.
The podcast brings together historians, educators, cultural figures and people involved in contemporary Jewish life and Polish-Jewish relations. It examines history and memory, but it is also interested in the present: how Jewish history is researched and represented today; how museums and cultural institutions shape public memory; what happens when Polish and Jewish perspectives on the same events differ; and what meaningful Polish-Jewish dialogue can look like in the twenty-first century.
The decision to produce the podcast in English was also deliberate. Polish-Jewish relations are not solely a Polish, Israeli or Jewish conversation. The history involved is European and global, and debates about the Holocaust, heritage, memory, identity and responsibility reach audiences far beyond Poland and Israel.
The first episode, released on Alex’s birthday, is a conversation with Robert Gądek, Director of the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków. We discuss the history and significance of the festival, the place of Jewish culture in contemporary Poland, and both the possibilities and the
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The date was not accidental. The podcast is dedicated to Alex and to the work to which he devoted most of his life: creating encounters between Poles and Jews, Israelis and Poles, and encouraging them to learn not only about one another’s histories, but also from one another.
Alex Dancyg was born in Warsaw in 1948 to parents who had survived the Holocaust. In 1957, the family immigrated to Israel, and Alex eventually made his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz, where, alongside his work as an educator and historian, he was also working the land.
A return visit to Poland in 1986, his first since leaving the country as a child, became an important turning point. In 1990 he began working with Yad Vashem, where for more than three decades he played a central role in educational programs connected with Poland and the Holocaust.
Alex helped create and lead training programs for guides accompanying Israeli youth groups to Poland and worked extensively with Polish educators, clergy and other groups in the Polish Desk, at the European Department. Yet his approach to Poland was never limited to the Holocaust. POLIN Museum, with which he collaborated closely, recalled that as a co-author of the training program for Israeli guides he repeatedly emphasized the importance of teaching about Polish Jews and their contribution to Poland, Israel and European civilization. He followed Polish politics, culture and sports closely and had
a particular love of Polish literature.
This broader perspective was fundamental to the way Alex understood Polish-Jewish dialogue. The Holocaust could not be avoided, simplified or detached from historical responsibility, but neither could Polish-Jewish relations be reduced to the years 1939–1945. Understanding the destruction also required understanding the Jewish world that had existed before it; contemporary dialogue required knowledge of what happened after the war and of the different ways in which Israelis, Jews and Poles remember and interpret their shared history.
For me, this was not an abstract educational philosophy. Alex was my teacher, colleague and close friend, and we worked together in educational encounters between Israelis and Poles. From our work together developed an amazing friendship.
On 7 October 2023, Alex was abducted by Hamas from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and taken to Gaza. Alex was murdered in captivity, and was brought back and buried at home in August 2024.
But the work to which he devoted so much of his life—did not end with him. He left thousands of students worldwide to carry on actively his legacy.
From a Legacy to a Podcast Bridging Voices – Polish-Jewish Dialogue grew out of the conviction that this conversation must continue.
The podcast brings together historians, educators, cultural figures and people involved in contemporary Jewish life and Polish-Jewish relations. It examines history and memory, but it is also interested in the present: how Jewish history is researched and represented today; how museums and cultural institutions shape public memory; what happens when Polish and Jewish perspectives on the same events differ; and what meaningful Polish-Jewish dialogue can look like in the twenty-first century.
The decision to produce the podcast in English was also deliberate. Polish-Jewish relations are not solely a Polish, Israeli or Jewish conversation. The history involved is European and global, and debates about the Holocaust, heritage, memory, identity and responsibility reach audiences far beyond Poland and Israel.
The first episode, released on Alex’s birthday, is a conversation with Robert Gądek, Director of the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków. We discuss the history and significance of the festival, the place of Jewish culture in contemporary Poland, and both the possibilities and the