Walking Through Dan's Story

By Chelsea Regan

Early this morning we packed our bags on to the bus and said au revoir to our beloved Caen to head to Paris. While our early mornings on the bus generally consist of snoozing students, our trip to Paris was quite the opposite. We were honored to have the privilege of hearing Dan Kochavi, a Holocaust survivor’s, story. It is important to note that while many survivors openly share their story, there are still many who have not spoken publicly about their own and their family’s experience during WWII and the Holocaust. Dan Kochavi and his family's story is just now coming to light, largely due to a project to which Study Tour leader Michael Hayse and several students on the tour have contributed. This special project is a collective memoir, which tells the history of not only Dan, but also his family.

On the Balcony of Dan's old apartment

While telling his story, Dan informed us that although he was born and raised in France, his mother, Judith, was actually from Lithuania, and his father, Israel, was from Poland. Dan and Dr. Hayse told us about Judith and Israel’s courtship. One particular anecdote gave us a taste of Judith’s vivacious nature, which would stay with her throughout the German occupation of France. When Israel met Judith he was currently engaged. However, the engagement ended and he knew he had to travel to Paris, where Judith was living, to get his girl. After a courtship the couple -- both ardent Zionists --  agreed to move to Palestine, where they planned to marry. Judith and Israel traveled on separate ships. On Judith’s ship, several men tried to win her over. One was a butcher who explained to her that they could live a good simple life together and even proposed to her! Dr. Hayse commented on how she would play coy to evoke jealousy in Israel, as Dan chuckled while remembering his parents.

Sometime after their marriage Judith became pregnant with Dan and the soon-to-be family moved back to France. Judith worked in the kitchen of a Jewish vocational school called the ORT, since she was familiar with kosher rules and Orthodox traditions. Israel was also able to gain employment at this school and they both lived in an apartment above it in the same building (7, Rue Georges Lardennois). It was from this apartment in December 1940, that French police officers followed Israel home at 8 AM and demanded that they pack their things and come with them. Judith fought with the police because Dan, then a toddler, was sick and there was no possible way for her to be ready in the short time they gave her. However, despite her cheeky persistence they were still forced to pack up. The Kochavis were arrested, however, it is important to note that they were not arrested as Jews, but as "enemy nationals" as they bore identification papers from British-ruled Palestine.

At the doors of the old ORT school where Dan lived

The story of the Kochavis from here takes many twists and turns, which can be read about in the Kochavi memoir that is close to the final stage of publication. For the rest of this post I will be not diving further into the Kochavi’s history, but into our tour of the 19th Arrondissement with Dan, specifically our trip to Rue Georges Lardennois, the street on which Dan’s family lived, worked, and were arrested. As we arrived to the building where Dan lived before and after the war, he remembered playing on the balcony, as well as, the places where all of his friends had lived. For Dan, being so young when the Holocaust happened he does not remember much of the anti-Semitism that existed or the hardship of this time in his life. He can recall being called a ‘dirty Jew’ once (Dan acknowledges that his parents had a different experience and most likely a harder time), yet he can still recall many fond memories from his childhood home. As he stood outside to take a few pictures, a wonderful thing occurred; the door was opened and a man began to speak to Dan. After a short conversation Dan Kochavi, his son Jon, Dr. Hayse, and the students who are working on the memoir were able to enter the building and take a trip up to the balcony where Dan used to play.

While this group was inside of the building, we excitedly waited for them to reemerge and I could not help but think of my own childhood home, and how now so many years later it would probably look very different. Even with differences it must be an amazing feeling to be back in a place that you once knew so well. This feeling was very apparent on Dan’s face as he emerged on to the balcony followed by the others. He looked down and waved at us as, his face aglow with joy. Dan and the others spent quite a bit of time on the balcony, with the man who let them in. (It can be assumed there will be an exciting new chapter added to the memoir after this incredible experience.)

When the group came down to rejoin us, we learned that the building is now the headquarters and administrative offices of the ACAT, Association of Christians Against Torture. Here, people help victims of war and torture, many of them refugees, find their way and provide a safe space. Dr. Hayse commented on how appropriate it is that a place that once taught Jews technical skills that they were prohibited from learning, is helping people still today.

As we began to walk away from this building Dan commented on how memory is very strange – everything changes with time, and things become much smaller than they were in your childhood memories, but still they remain in the world. In a world where many Holocaust survivors are passing away, it is more important than ever to recount their stories, become witness to the crimes committed against them, and honor their lives, their families, and their memory, which through new eyes and minds shall never fade.