Dagan was born Hersch Brand in Ulucz in south-eastern Poland in 1929.
Dagan was a member of a group of Holocaust survivors known as the Boys, despite the fact the group consisted of over 200 girls.
The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after World War II for rest and rehabilitation.
Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers. They had also survived World War II in hiding or as lone children.
Dagan’s parents were Chaim Dovid (b.1890) and Lea (b. 1892). They had seven children.
Dagan had four brothers Avraham (b. 1915), Yosef (b. 1920), Mayer (b. 1924), Yakov (b. 1931) and two sisters Rochel Steingut (b. 1913) and Zisale (b. 1933).
Abraham was a pharmacist and married. He lived in Przemysl. Brand’s sister Rochel was also married and lived in Sieniawa, which was 80km from her hometown.
Life in the Ghetto
Dagan, his parents and other siblings were taken to the Brzozów Ghetto, 38km from Ulucz. All local Jews were imprisoned in the ghetto by 24 June 1942.
Dagan’s brother Josef was in the Kraków Ghetto and died in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in 1943.
Dagan’s father, mother and sister Zisale were murdered in Brzozów on 8 August 1942. Dagan’s older brother Abraham was in the ghetto in Przemysl where he was murdered in 1942. Rochel also died in the Holocaust but how and where it is not known.
Men aged 15-35 were chosen for work in a selection that took place in the Brzozów Ghetto in early August 1942.
Slave Labour
Dagan was taken to Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp.
His brother Majer may well have been with him, as he is listed as having been moved from Plaszów to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria in1944.
Dagan was taken to the Skarżysko-Kamienna labour camp in 1943 and then to the Częstochowa-HASAG camp in 1944, which were also in Poland.
Dagan was then moved to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. He survived a death train to the Theresienstadt Ghetto, where he was liberated in May 1945.
Zvi Dagan’s Journey 1939-1948
Pre-war Life: Ulucz, Poland. Forced Journey: → Brzozów Ghetto → Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp → Skarżysko-Kamienna labour camp → Częstochowa-HASAG labour camp → Buchenwald concentration camp → Death train to the Theresienstadt Ghetto → Liberation at Theresienstadt. After liberation: → Prague, Czechoslovakia → Joins 1st Group of the Boys → Windermere reception centre, UK → Ascot hostel, Berkshire, UK.
A New Life
Dagan arrived in the UK as part of the first group of the Boys. After a short time in the Windermere reception centre, he was moved to a hostel in Ascot.
Dagan enrolled in the ORT school in South Kensington, London, where he studied electrical engineering.
Dagan settled in Israel.
The skills that Brand learnt at the ORT school enabled him to become a successful engineer. At the height of his career, Brand was in charge of Tel Aviv’s electrical supply.
Dagan’s brother Majer survived the war and died in Apulia in Italy in 1990.
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