Virtual Sunday Survivor Talk with Harry Davids

Harry was born in 1942 in Nazi-occupied Holland. His parents were German Jews who had left Germany for The Netherlands for better economic opportunities. Soon after his birth, his parents, who understood the dangerous political climate, made the difficult decision to give Harry to members of the Dutch Resistance who arranged for him to be hidden. He spent the first few years of his life living with the Bakkers, a Protestant family in the small Dutch town of Engwierum. After the war, his paternal uncle, who had been living in South Africa, conducted a search for living relatives in Europe. His uncle found out, through a cousin of Harry’s, that Harry had been given to the Dutch resistance. Since Harry’s parents married during the war, this uncle did not even know that his brother, Harry’s father, had married or had had a child. After tracking down Harry’s whereabouts, he fought a difficult and long legal battle to gain custody of Harry. It was while he was growing up with his "new family" in South Africa that he began to learn some of the details about his past. Harry has spent his whole life tracing his family history and unraveling the mystery of his parents he never knew.

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Survivor talks are generously supported by Arnold L. Gilberg, MD, PhD and Family.